Melbourne, Oct 13 : Foreign students, including Indians rate Australia as the safest place to study, but rank it third for education system prestige.

IDP Education, one of Australia’s biggest international student recruitment companies, conducted the survey of more than 6000 students from eight countries from September 12 to October 6. Of those surveyed, 1130 were Indian students.

According to a global survey, notwithstanding the violent attacks on Indian students in Australia, nearly 40 per cent of respondents ticked Australia as the safest place when asked to choose from a list comprising Australia, the US, Britain, New Zealand and Canada.

The US ranked last for safety, with 4.3 per cent.

Students, however, did not believe Australia offered the most prestigious education system.

On this measure, the US rated most highly (42 per cent), followed by Britain (28 per cent) and Australia (15 per cent).

Only one Australian university, the Australian National University, was placed in the top 30 of the recent Times Higher Education''s ranking of the world''s top 100 universities.

The IDP research surveyed students from China, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong.

The findings will be presented at the Australian International Education Conference starting in Sydney today. (ANI)