India has ramped up its diplomatic relations with Australia, with the two countries agreeing to a new mechanism that will allow education qualifications from each country to be recognised by the other.
This is the most comprehensive and ambitious arrangement India has ever agreed to with any other nation.
“This new mechanism means that if you’re an Indian student who’s studying—or about to study—in Australia, your hard-earned degree will be recognised when you return home. Or if you’re a member of Australia’s large Indian diaspora, you’ll be able to feel more confident that your Indian qualifications will be recognised in Australia,” he said.
“It paves the way for commercial opportunities for Australian education providers to offer innovative and more accessible education to Indian students, and it provides a solid basis for our tertiary institutions to consider new ways of partnering with each other.”
The agreement comes after the Indian government announced its ambitious new National Education Policy, which has set a target of providing 50 percent of its youth with either higher education or skill education by 2035.
“There are half a billion people here in India that are under the age of 23, and the government has a plan that within a decade’s time, about half of people in their 20s and 30s will have gone to uni or to the equivalent of TAFE here. And they can’t do it all on their own.
University Sector Welcomes Move
Universities Australia, the peak body for the higher education sector, has welcomed the agreement with one of Australia’s closest strategic partners.“Since the pandemic, interest from Indian students in our world-class universities has soared to new heights as the country sets about educating 500 million students by 2035. We are here to help," Universities Australia Chief Executive Catriona Jackson said in a media release.
“As of December, almost 130,000 Indian students had chosen Australia as their study destination. The contribution these students make enriches both our nations.”
Jackson noted that this was a golden period in our education relationship with India, and Australia should grasp it.
“We have huge opportunities in front of us to support India’s education reform ambitions and to diversify our education offerings to serve student aspirations,” she said.
Australian Universities Opening Campuses in India
The mechanism will also provide a pathway for Australian universities to open shop in the world’s fastest-growing economy, with Deakin University and the University of Wollongong both moving to open campuses in Gujarat International Finance Tec City (GIFT) in Ahmedabad, in the Gujarat province.This is a first for India, which has previously not allowed foreign education institutions in the country access to the domestic education sector.
However, in 2022 India announced new regulations that allowed foreign educational institutions to open offshore campuses in GIFT city for a range of educational courses, including financial management, science, technology, engineering, and STEM subjects.
Deakin University’s campus, which was announced by Prime Minister Albanese, will provide an initial $4 million (US$2.6 million) for 100 students to study cyber security and business analytics at the new campus in India each year.
“Not everyone has the means or the ability to pack up their lives and study in another country. There might be financial constraints, or family commitments, or a variety of reasons that you want to, or need to, stay closer to home,” Albanese said.
“So the presence of Australian universities in India opens up new ways for Indian students to obtain an Australian education by bringing Australia a little bit closer.”
