Foreign students rate Australia as the safest study destination but rank it third for education system prestige, according to a global survey.

Despite media coverage here and overseas of violent attacks on Indian students, 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.

But students 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).

The quality of education at some private Australian colleges has been called into question recently with reports of unscrupulous college operators offering substandard courses. Under new, stricter Federal Government rules, more than 1300 registered institutions will be forced to re-register.

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.