- India issued a Letter of Intent to UNSW to establish a campus in India
- Seven Australian universities now approved to operate eight campuses in India
- New MoUs signed on education, research, skills, and workforce development
India on Monday issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to the University of New South Wales (UNSW) based in Australia, to establish a campus in the country. The approval, along with a host of new MoUs signed between the two nations, across education, skills, research and workforce development, formed the key outcomes of the 3rd Australia-India Education and Skills Council (AIESC) meeting held in New Delhi.
The meeting chaired by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Australian Education Minister Jason Clare "laid a strong foundation for expanding cooperation from pre-school to PhD", said Minister Pradhan, emphasising early childhood education, teacher training, and growing demand for CBSE schools in Australia. He also highlighted sports as a major area of collaboration, linking it to India's bid to host the 2036 Olympics and Australia's preparations for the 2032 Brisbane Games.
With the UNSW approval, seven Australian universities have now been cleared to operate eight campuses across India, making Australia the largest foreign presence under India's new framework for overseas universities.
Australian Education Minister Jason Clare said, "Nineteen international institutions have approvals to set up in India, seven are Australian. No other country enjoys this depth of partnership," calling the India-Australia education relationship "unmatched globally".
Big push through new MoUs across sectors
A series of high-impact MoUs and LoIs were exchanged between Indian and Australian universities, governments, and skilling bodies. These include:
- Alignment of CBSE's Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) curriculum with Australia's Certificate III in ECEC
- A Marine Ecological Research Centre in Odisha with James Cook University
- Mining automation, exploration and logistics cooperation involving UWA, IIM Mumbai, and IIT (ISM) Dhanbad
- A Centre of Excellence in Disaster Resilience (Deakin University-IIT Roorkee)
- Agritech innovation research with Western Sydney University and Andhra Pradesh
- A Teaching Excellence Academy in Uttar Pradesh with Monash University
- Global mining talent development with UWA and India's Skill Council for Mining
- National scaling of Deakin-CII's Global Job Readiness Programme
Research cooperation expands with new SPARC projects
The meeting also announced ten new joint research projects worth Rs 9.84 crore under the Ministry of Education's flagship programme, Scheme for Promotion of Academic Research Collaboration (SPARC), in frontier areas such as AI, quantum, MedTech, advanced computing, biodiversity, energy, sustainability, space and smart mobility. This takes the number of SPARC-supported collaborations with Australian institutions to 129 out of 865 projects.
Sports, schools, teacher training emerge as new pillars
Minister of State for Skill Development Jayant Chaudhary said that the sports and physical wellness industry had "immense economic potential", noting the partnership must strengthen sports science, sports events, and gig economy opportunities. "No such mechanism for this level of engagement exists between India and any other country," through frameworks like the Mutual Recognition of Qualifications and joint skills mapping.
He emphasised the need to strengthen employability metrics through training exchanges for both teachers and students, and to open opportunities for Australian students to train in India as well.
'Trust deepens with every meeting'
Australian minister Clare, noting that this was the fifth high-level meeting between the two sides, said, "The trust deepens every time." He added that Australia would soon begin work on its first Hindu primary school.
Pradhan said Australia remains a favoured destination for Indian students, while India is now one of Australia's major student markets. He confirmed Clare's invitation to hold the next AIESC meeting in Australia.
The AIESC, both sides said, will continue driving time-bound outcomes as the India-Australia education and skills partnership grow in scale and ambition.
