Good evening, everyone.
Khem cho.
I am very pleased to be here in India.
It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge that Deakin University will be the first overseas university approved to establish a branch campus in India.
It’s a great honour for Deakin University – and for Australia, too.
The campus will be built at the new GIFT district not far from here, and will offer students the opportunity to study cyber security and business analytics with Deakin.
Along with Deakin, the University of Wollongong also has intentions to establish a campus at GIFT City.
Of course, we always welcome students to come and study in Australia, and that will be continue to be an important focus for us.
But 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.
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.
When I was growing up, I didn’t know anyone who was going to university.
No one in my family had ever been to university.
But Sydney University was just up the road from where I lived. I’d see it all the time. And the proximity made it real to me.
It made it seem possible.
So this is a terrific development and I congratulate everyone involved in making it happen.
Which brings me to another significant development in our bilateral education relationship.
I’m pleased to tell you that we have finalised the Australia–India Education Qualifications Recognition Mechanism.
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.
It is the most comprehensive and ambitious arrangement agreed to by India with any country.
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.
I acknowledge my Minister for Education, Jason Clare, his Indian counterpart and everyone involved in landing this comprehensive agreement. It’s a fantastic piece of work that will have tangible benefits.
These developments – Australian university campuses and the qualification mechanism – are just the latest additions to our ever-growing education partnership.
The University of Melbourne has been offering blended Bachelor of Science degrees in partnership with selected Indian universities for several years now.
It’s fantastic to see that Melbourne Uni now plans to expand this collaboration by launching a dual degree with three of India’s leading universities.
The New Colombo Plan has awarded 29 scholarships and more than 7,000 mobility grants for Australian undergraduates to study in India. This includes five scholars and 110 mobility grants in the 2023 intake.
I am pleased to announce a newer scholarship offering - the Maitri Scholarships.
These are for Indian students to study in Australia for up to four years.
The scholarships are part of the wider Maitri program that seeks to boost cultural, educational and community ties between Australia and India.
With “maitri”, of course, being another word for “friendship”.
Again, thank you to everyone who has been working on these projects which will broaden the horizons of students from both our nations.
Congratulations.
Thank you.