Australia's New South Wales University to set up campus in Bengaluru

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Australia's University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney was on Monday granted a Letter of Intent (LoI) to set up its Indian campus in Bengaluru, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.
     Pradhan made the announcement at an event in presence of Australia's Minister for Education, Jason Clare.
     UNSW is one of Australia’s premier universities and an academic institution ranked in the top-20 globally in the QS World University Rankings.
     Earlier this year, the Letter of Intent was given to four Australian universities, including La Trobe University, Victoria University, Western Sydney University and University of Western Australia, to establish campuses in India.
     With the grant of the latest LoI, India now has seven Australian universities with eight campuses across the country.
     According to an official statement, the Bengaluru location was selected due to the city’s established technology ecosystem, availability of research partners, and potential for industry-linked learning.
     Pradhan along with MoS Jayant Chaudhary chaired the third Australia-India Education and Skills Council (AIESC) meeting.
     From Australia, the meeting was co-chaired by Clare and Andrew Giles, Australian Minister for Skills and Training.
    The third AIESC meeting reviewed the ongoing initiatives under school education, higher education, research, and skill development, and reaffirmed the commitment to deepen institutional linkages, expand mobility pathways, and strengthen regulatory cooperation.
     AIESC is a bi-national body that guides the strategic direction and strengthen the partnership between the two countries in the fields of the education, training, research and skill ecosystem.
    "The third AIESC served as a great opportunity to build upon the progress made since the inaugural meeting of AIESC, break new ground in Australia-India education, skills and research partnership, open wider avenues for India's youth, and further deepen our bilateral engagements across the full spectrum of education and skill development as well as in areas of national and global priority," Pradhan said.
    "Education, skills and research are the key pillars of India-Australia Strategic Partnership.
     "Both India and Australia remain committed to working together and collaborating more in Early Childhood Care and Education, technology adoption, sports education, building institutional capacities, empowering teachers, preparing youth for critical and emerging areas, like AI, advanced materials, semiconductors, MedTech, energy, and sustainability and also for innovative skilling partnerships," he added.
    The minister urged all stakeholders to successfully implement the outcome-centric and in-depth discussions held on Monday and to ensure that the bridges built today continue to grow stronger in the years to come.
     Pradhan said that both the sides should also explore opportunities for collaboration in the area of Hackathons at both school and higher education levels to address the pressing challenges of everyday life.
    "This is a win-win. It is good for Australia and it is good for India. It is a great sign of the strength of the relationship between India and Australia. There is no such collaboration with any other country in the field of education and skill development. This shows deep trust and faith between India and Australia," said Jason Clare.
     Andrew Giles noted that Australia and India share a critical partnership which is invaluable to progressing both nations’ skills and training capabilities.
     Pradhan also held a bilateral meeting with his Australian counterpart Jason Clare and Julian Hill, Australia's Assistant Minister for International Education.
     During the meeting, the ministers reviewed the existing cooperation in education, innovation and research, and had meaningful discussions on further deepening engagements from "Pre-school to PhD", the statement said.
     The two sides also sanctioned Rs 9.84 crore under the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) for 10 new joint research projects in frontier areas such as advanced computing, sustainability, healthcare, and space.
     A key focus of the meeting was sports integration in school education and higher education, alongside early childhood education and care (ECCE).
     On ECCE, the two sides agreed to align the CBSE’s early childhood curriculum with Australia’s Certificate III in Early Childhood Education to strengthen teacher training, curriculum innovation and workforce development.
     Under SPARC, the 10 joint research projects will involve Indian institutions such as IIT Kharagpur, BITS Pilani, VIT Vellore, NIT Trichy and NIT Surathkal, partnering Australian universities including Melbourne, Queensland, Monash, UNSW and UWA.
     The projects span energy and climate, healthcare and MedTech, smart materials, and space and defence technologies.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)