Chandigarh, July 14 - A delegation of officials from Australia is visiting Punjab to meet parents and educational consultants and reassure them that Indian students in Australia, bulk of whom come from the state, are safe there.

The delegation arrived here even as the number of enquiries for courses in Australian institutions went up by four times this year, members of the visiting delegation said.

The delegation met parents of students here and nearby areas to assure them that the Australian authorities were taking all necessary steps to ensure that their wards were safe. Among those families whom they met were the parents of two sisters studying in Australia.

Nearly 40,000 students from Punjab alone are studying in universities and educational institutions in Australia.

'We are here to explain our seriousness towards the recent attacks on Indian students. We held a meeting with the officials of Punjab government and parents and students of this region yesterday (Monday),' Colin Walters, leader of the delegation and the chief executive officer of Australian Education International (AEI), told media persons here Tuesday.

'We apprised them about the zero tolerance of Australia towards racism. There is no question of racism there as around 25 per cent of Australia population was born out of the country,' he said, adding it was found that very few attacks were motivated by racism and most of them were a result of late night robberies or property theft

The delegation is on a 10-day visit to India, from July 6-15, is visiting eight cities -- Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.

Over 50 Indian students have been injured in attacks in Australian cities, most of them being in and around Melbourne, in the last few months.