Albanese announces education qualification recognition, confirms Deakin’s India entry

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday announced a ‘Australia-India education qualification recognition system’ while making it official that Deakin University is the ‘first overseas university permitted to open its branch campus in India ever’.

Albanese also unveiled a brand-new “Maitri” scholarship for Indian students to study in Australia for up to four years on the first day of his two-day visit to Gujarat.

The visiting PM arrived in Ahmedabad on Wednesday and paid a visit to Sabarmati Ashram along with a delegation. Together with the governor Acharya Devvrat and the chief minister Bhupendra Patel, he also participated in a cultural celebration of Holi at Raj Bhavan. 

Deakin University will open its first-ever offshore campus in India at Gandhinagar’s GIFT City. Another important step is that the process for the recognition of educational qualifications between Australia and India has been completed.

As a result of this new mechanism, if you are an Indian student studying in Australia or have already studied there, your hard-earned degree will be recognised when you return home, Albanese said in his speech at the Ahmedabad event honouring the relationship between Australia and India in the field of education.

Or you might feel more certain that your Indian degree will be accepted in Australia if you are a part of the 8,00,000-strong and expanding Indian diaspora in Australia. It is the most extensive and ambitious agreement that India has ever reached with another nation.

He continued, “It is a fantastic piece of work that will have really tangible benefits. It paves the way for commercial opportunities for Australian education providers to offer more cutting-edge and affordable education to Indian students and provide a solid basis for educational institutions to consider new ways to partner with each other”.

According to him, the new campus for Deakin University will provide courses in business analytics and cyber security.

“The University of Wollongong plans to open a campus in GIFT City as well. We will, of course, always welcome students to visit and stay in Australia. Yet, not everyone has the resources or capacity to leave their place of residence and pursue their studies abroad. So, without really being in Australia, Indian kids can receive an Aussie education,” he continued.

In his speech, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel stated that the International Branch Campus (IBC) of Deakin University will also help GIFT City achieve one of its objectives by supplying skilled labour.

The Australian delegation was also given the assurance that any other university wishing to establish a campus in GIFT City would get all conceivable help.

Deakin University’s CEO for South Asia and Vice President for Global Alliances, Ravneet Pawha, stated: “This is a historic occasion for both nations, and we are honoured to have played a part in two ‘firsts’ in the history of the Australia-India educational industry.”

The branch campus seeks to offer top-tier postgraduate education to satisfy the need for qualified labour in the nation from the industry.