S.M. Krishna, visiting Australia to express concern over a wave of street assaults on Indian students, said there was concern in New Delhi about some "dubious" private colleges.
"I think they are not only bringing a bad name to Australia but they are destroying the future of the younger generation of Indian students," he told The Australian newspaper.
Private vocational colleges teaching everything from hairdressing to flying have sprung up in Australia to meet booming demand from the 95,000 Indian students in the country.
But Krishna said India was disturbed by recent media reports exposing scams and poor standards at some of the colleges.
"Some dubious educational institutions have lured gullible Indian students into joining some of these institutions -- there is a big gap between the quality of what has been promised and what has been delivered," he said.
"Some colleges have closed down but full-time fees have been collected from these students and they are left high a