Paneer paratha, sparse classrooms, meditation room: A university in India, but with ‘a very Australian flavour’

Visitors must present their IDs at the security desk near the entrance, which opens into a space with a colourful wall and where the Tricolour and the Australian flag stand side by side. Soon after, there are sparse, quiet classrooms. In one of them, a small group of students is huddled around a professor over a desk. Some with headphones and laptops can be seen working in the comfort of desks placed in the corridors. This smaller version of its parent campus feels different from other Indian colleges, where classrooms are set in rows and buzz with students and staff.

A grandstand with large cushions is a common space for events and gatherings. Students say they can even grab internship and job offers over a table tennis match at this co-working space that is used by startups, too.

Ruhani Patel, a business analytics student who completed her graduation from the Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU)—a private university located nearby in Gandhinagar, vouches for the “active learning method” followed at Deakin over the ‘dictating of notes’ by teachers in her former college.

Launched in 2024 with 42 students, who graduated in March, the campus is located in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) in a special economic zone (SEZ). (Express Photo)

“This is not where 50-60 students fill a class. There was also a stark change in the teaching methodology. Rather than being dictated notes, students come to the class prepared. Also, we are evaluated on our assignments, and not exams,” says Ruhani. “I prefer this setup over any other Indian university or even the Deakin University campus in Australia. With this teacher-student ratio, it feels more like personalised teaching. We have the freedom to approach any faculty at any time to clear our doubts.”

Unlike the parent campus in Victoria, Australia, the two-storey building with a glass facade wears a “corporate look”, students say, adding that this helps it to gel well with the high-rise glass and concrete towers in the SEZ. The smart city is a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, conceived when he was the chief minister of Gujarat.

In the current academic year, the campus has just 23 students enrolled in the two courses it offers—business analytics and cyber security—and a regular faculty of eight members. Deakin’s Melbourne campus hosts 25,000 students in a year. The annual fee for each of the two postgraduate programmes is around Rs 22 lakh, compared to the nearly Rs 55 lakh charged for the Australia campus.

What students look for: ‘Placements, visa’

Unlike the parent campus, where campus recruitments are not seen as a prerogative, parents and students here have “placements” and an Australian visa on their mind when enrolling. Citing placements as the reason for the decline in numbers in the second batch, Prof Deepak Bajaj, the academic and campus director, says, “The second batch was enrolled when the first batch was not placed. So, there was a gap year. Gradually, people are coming on their own now. But we don’t want to be a “massy”, but a boutique university.”

“It is hard to make parents and applicants understand that our focus is not just on placements. It took some time for the management to understand the same. Students in Australian campuses do not enroll with the sole purpose of placements. But Indians see it as that there is no assistance in placements in Australia”, Prof Bajaj observes.

However, as part of the adaptation, Deakin conducted its first-ever placement cycle in May last year, he says, and seven students were recruited, in a single day, at the National Australian Bank (NAB). “From among the first batch, nearly 70 per cent of students were placed.”

“Other than placements, parents also enquire about when the student will get a visa.”

Prof Iain Martin, the vice-chancellor, had told this newspaper at Deakin’s first convocation ceremony that the campus was started with a model that was very “Australian” in approach, but the administration later realised that it must “have a slightly more Indian experience that would still have a very Australian flavour”.

“And I think we will continue to refine that. We realised what students who go overseas look for is a blend of Indian and Australian strengths. One of the things that we hope to learn is what we can take from India to Australia, as much as what we can bring from Australia to India,” Prof Martin had said.

The university has already adopted a few changes to reach that balance. “Realising the demand from the industry, we recently added the 80 per cent attendance mandate. This is one of the fine tunings that the university has made, taking note of the Indian context,” says Prof Bajaj, who previously worked with the real estate sector in Gurugram.

‘Don’t miss Indian university campuses much’

Even after a five-day week, most of the students say they do not miss “the buzz of a regular Indian university”.

“Usually, we are on campus on Saturdays. It is better than staying at home since we can access materials through the digital library, record video assignments, or prepare for the upcoming classes,” Raghav Agrawal, a business analytics student, says.

It, however, took them a few months to realign themselves with the new environment. “We had a stereotypical experience in our undergraduate classes. But this feels more like a corporate space. Also, with visiting faculty from MNCs at GIFT City and field visits, we get to know GIFT City closely. The co-working space on the ground floor helps us get opportunities to interact with startups,” Riya Punjabi, a cybersecurity student from Mumbai, says. Agrawal, who unwinds over a table tennis match in the games room on the ground floor, recalls how he nearly “got a job offer” over a game with a corporate leader.

“The entire campus is ours. We have quick coffee runs in between assignments,” says Agrawal. The new batch also held a freshers’ party, which “has never been done on any Deakin University campus”, says Riya.

Students also have the option of a two-week immersion programme in Australia. Out of 42 students from the first batch, 15 had taken up this programme. “This year, due to the uncertain global situations, travel of students and faculty has been kept on hold for the time being,” Vedant Sharma, a staffer, says.

Another deviation from Deakin’s other campuses was conducting an aptitude exam along with interviews for admissions, unlike just interviews on the parent campus. “We have a lifelong learning programme, which allows alumni to seek help at any point in their career,“ student services coordinator Saumil Shah said.

Out of the 23 students, 40 per cent are from Gujarat, and the remaining from Rajasthan, Kerala, Delhi and Mumbai, Deakin officials say.

The other adaptations manifest in the cafeteria on the ground floor, where the walls are dedicated to the portraits of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Maulana Azad, Bhagat Singh , and Indira Gandhi. Another features Sachin Tendulkar, Bajrang Punia, Neeraj Chopra, and Mary Kom, and a third shows Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi, and other artistes.

At lunch time, the place comes alive with students and staff. If the Melbourne cafe serves bacon sandwiches to “halal and gluten-free” options, the minimal menu on the GIFT City campus serves freshly made paneer parathas, a chaat, pulao, and other meals to please the Indian palate. Prof Bajaj says he, too, dines here with the students.

While Deakin campuses usually have chaplains and all-religion prayer rooms, the one here has a ‘meditation room’, which is a quiet space in a corner with pouffes and cushions where students come to “relax”.

It may not have the basketball courts or the 400-metre dirt track of the Melbourne campus, but the students are happy that the TT table here can double up as a job platform.

The second batch is due to graduate this October, after an 18-month on-campus stay and a six-month internship period.

With competition from Australia’s Wollongong, two UK-based universities—Coventry (which is yet to commence operations here) and Queen’s University Belfast (which launched its offshore campus in January this year), the SEZ that functions under the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) regulations, will soon become abuzz with international campuses, Deakin faculty members say.