Australia’s Wollongong and Deakin universities sign agreement to set up campuses in Gujarat’s GIFT City

Pradhan made the announcement during an event at Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University. Australian Minister of Education Jason Clare, former cricketer Adam Gilchrist and a delegation from the country were present at the event. Clare is on a four-day visit to India on the invitation of the education minister.

In his address, the Union Minister said the strategy, roadmap and aspirations of the two countries are similar. “We want to partner with Australia in terms of accessibility, affordability and quality of education for youngsters.”

The Australian education minister said that on March 2, the universities from both countries will be signing 10 new MoUs. And, the education ministers of both countries will sign a very important agreement — the mechanism for mutual recognition of qualifications.

“It locks in the rules for mutual recognition to access education in Australia and India. It delivers immediate benefits to students in higher education institutions in both countries. It means that an Indian student can be sure that the degree they obtained from an Australian university will be recognised if they want to continue higher education here in India (like a Master’s degree or a PhD) or they may be able to study a course structured in stages at an Australian university campus here (in India) or in other country and complete their Bachelor’s qualification in Australia and be confident that it will be recognised here in India.”

Adding on, Clare said, “This is just the start of a two-step process — first is the mechanism recognising qualification of degrees, and second is for us to work together with professions on mutual recognition agreements so that Australian and Indian graduates will be able to practice professionally in either countries, that is something that will look out into the context of the new economic cooperation and trade agreement between Australia and India.”

At present, there are nearly 70,000 Indian students studying in Australia, mostly in higher education or vocational training.