Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses the perform to formally announce the organising of a world department campus of Australia’s Deakin University at GIFT City in Gujarat’s capital Gandhinagar, in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Australia’s Deakin University, which will be the primary overseas training establishment to arrange a campus in GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City), will roll out educational programmes from July 2024 the place college students will even have the choice emigrate to campuses in its house nation, its Vice-Chancellor, Iain Martin, has stated.
Deakin’s arrival in India was introduced by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Ahmedabad in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. Its worldwide department campus will be unfold over 25,000 sq. toes inside GIFT City, and will be arrange with an funding of 4 million Australian {dollars}. The college will provide a Master’s programme in cybersecurity (skilled) and a Master’s in Business Analytics. Deakin is a public college in Australia, and ranks 266 in the QS Global Rankings 2022.
“The entry criteria will be the same as that for our campuses in Australia, which are a good undergraduate degree, work experience and English language assessment. Programmes will be delivered in the same timeline and same trimester structure [February, July and October intake]. This means that a student here who would like to do a trimester of study in Australia could move seamlessly between our campus in Gujarat and one of our five campuses in Australia. But we will also give an Indian flavour through our Indian partners and case studies,” Professor Martin stated in an interplay with The Hindu.
The college will begin with an consumption of 50-60 college students and steadily increase that to just about 100. While the tutoring payment is but to be finalised, it’s estimated to be half of what Deakin prices on its campuses in Australia.
Among the components that permits Deakin to plan a launch as early as subsequent yr is the provision of faculties, inexpensive housing, accommodations and leisure services inside GIFT City, Professor Martin stated. He stated the IFSC norms introduced final October for overseas campuses that require rules and requirements to be the identical as the house campus made the chance enticing.
The USP of the programs supplied by Deakin will be “cadetships” — analysis initiatives and internships accessible by means of its partnership with industries, college officers stated. “This will lead us to scaling up of our operations as GIFT City grows and demand comes in,” stated John Bolton, senior strategic adviser, Deakin University. The trade companions embrace Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HSBC and Xebia.
While college students ending their postgraduate diploma from Deakin’s campus in GIFT City will not benefit from post-study work visa (which is out there solely to college students who examine in Australia for a interval of two years), there will be some benefits whereas looking for a job alternative abroad. Students can search a piece visa as a talented migrant.
“Their Australian degree will earn them extra points in their visa application where one of the questions is whether a candidate has a degree from an Australian university,” defined Ravneet Pawha, vice-president (Global Alliances) and CEO (South Asia), Deakin University.
As employers usually need to sponsor work visas, there will be much more “confidence” when there’s a globally accredited diploma, added Prof. Martin.
Deakin University will begin inviting functions from the tip of 2023, and will additionally begin recruiting school mid-2023 onwards. About 80% of the college will be employed from India and the remaining will come from Australia. Indian school will additionally profit from alternatives accessible at Deakin’s house campuses, the officers stated.
Australia’s University of Wollongong has additionally signed a Letter of Intent to arrange a campus in GIFT City.
Dipesh Shah, government director of the International Financial Services Centers Authority, instructed The Hindu that a number of gamers from the U.Okay. and the U.S. have been additionally in organising campuses.
Ashish Sharma, Senior Director – Trade & Investment, South Asia at Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), stated, “We are excited that Deakin University is the first foreign university to set up a campus in India. Other Australian universities are also having discussions with Indian authorities to develop strategic opportunities in higher education and research. Our intent is to collaborate with India to help meet its long term objectives and to support development of innovative solutions in energy, food, water, healthcare and infrastructure.”
