Hit by delays, Australian varsity hopes to break fresh ground with GIFT City campus

Throwing further light on importance of a campus, she said, “As students start inquiring (about courses), you want to say, ‘look, come to the campus and have a look, talk to our faculty staff…’ that (a campus) enables us to do that,” McCollim added.

Along with its fellow Australian institute – Deakin University, UOW is among the first foreign universities to announce their offshore campuses at the Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) City.

The newly built GIFT City campus in Gandhinagar. (Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)

While Deakin University has already rolled out its first two postgraduate programmes — Cyber Security and Business Analytics — at GIFT City, barely a kilometre from the UOW campus, in July, UOW will start its two postgraduate programmes — Computing and Financial Technology — in November.

UOW authorities believe the delay, especially in light of Deakin University’s earlier launch, will affect its case only with regard to students who just want to have Australian education, irrespective of the course.

“I think the fact that we have offered very different courses is really helpful…But if a student just wanted Australian education and didn’t care what they’re studying, sure, absolutely, they might be with Deakin now (and not UOW), but I think we have deliberately chosen very different things to tap into the needs of students who have a desire to study those two domains (computing and fintech),” McCollim said.

The edge UOW offers over Deakin University, she believes, is the ranking. “We are very proud of our ranking. Being among the top 1% universities worldwide…I think with the experience we have with global campus operations, we know how to strike a balance between Australian education and tailoring to the needs of the students here. And I think that is something we have done well in other countries. Though, the more the merrier. We have chosen courses different from the ones offered by Deakins. And that gives the students the ability to choose between two different institutions,” McCollim added.

The University of Wollongong has received over 700 applications for its two postgraduate programmes with 50 seats each. UOW India has also introduced ‘The InAugural Scholarship,’ which offers financial benefits to the students.

From November 2024, UOW India will offer Master of Computing (Data Analytics), Graduate Certificate in Computing, Master of Financial Technology, extended Master of Financial Technology, and Graduate Certificate in Financial Technology.

As reported by The Indian Express, the UOC rescheduled the commencement of its postgraduate programmes to November due to “severe monsoon weather and water logging”, which resulted in “substantial delays in connecting essential services to its campus building”. The university had, instead, organised a series of events to give students an experience of campus life in the run-up to the November launch.

The UOW India has partnered with IBM which will enable the students to gain access to IBM’s Innovation Centre for Education (ICE), which provides cutting-edge training in emerging technologies like AI, cloud computing, cyber security, and blockchain. The partnership will also offer students placement opportunities, said officials.