Deakin will become the first university in the world to open an international teaching campus in India.
The state-of-the-art campus in the heart of the smart business district GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) will give students access to future-ready Deakin postgraduate courses aligned with local employment needs.
The campus will open as early as possible and by no later than mid-2024, the same year Deakin celebrates its 50th anniversary and 30 years in India. The international campus will deliver job-ready graduates to meet India’s soaring labour demands and bolster Deakin’s commitment to providing a world-class education and learning experience for students around the globe.
This innovative venture was officially announced in Ahmedabad by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Deakin University’s Chancellor Mr. John Stanhope AM, and many other notable guests.
Speaking at an event that showcased Australia-India cooperation on education PM Albanese said that he was very pleased to be 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,” added PM Albanese
The campus will be built at the new GIFT district and will offer students the opportunity to study cybersecurity and business analytics with Deakin.
PM Albanese mentioned that 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 continue to be an important focus for us.”
He acknowledged that 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 students 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.” PM Albanese further added,
“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.
Deakin Vice-Chancellor Professor Iain Martin said Deakin has a long and proud history in India.
“Deakin was the first international university to establish its presence in India in 1994, and since then, through innovative collaborations across research, education and training, we have forged a bond based on commitment, excellence, trust and transparency,” Professor Martin said.
“Our India partnership is one of the jewels in the crown of our growth and success over the almost 50 years of Deakin’s existence from humble beginnings on a green field site at Waurn Ponds in 1974.
“Back in 1893, Alfred Deakin – the Australian Prime Minister for whom our university is named – predicted that students from Australia and India would traverse international borders and form lasting intellectual partnerships:
“We are near enough to readily visit India and be visited. Its students might come to the universities of our milder climate, instead of facing the winters of Oxford, Paris, or Heidelberg. Our thinkers may yet become authorities upon questions which need personal acquaintance with India and its peoples.
We may hold it to be inevitable, as well as natural, that one of the first outward going movements of our expansive Australian life will bring us into contact, and then into communion, with India.”
(Alfred Deakin, Irrigated India, 1893)
“Perhaps it’s taken a little longer than Alfred Deakin expected, but through the dedicated work of Government, academia and industry, today’s historic announcement takes our partnership to an entirely new level,” Professor Martin said.
Professor Martin said Deakin’s approach was ‘in India, with India, for India’ and that as the university prepared to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024, opening a new India campus marked an exciting new chapter.
“This is a historic opportunity to deepen our engagement with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and open up access to our world-class education and pathways, delivered in India by Deakin alongside our industry partners,” he said.
Deakin Vice-President (Global Alliances) and CEO (South Asia) Ms Ravneet Pawha said it was a “momentous occasion for Australia and India”.
“We are thrilled to have contributed to two ‘firsts’ in the Australia-India education sector story; Deakin being the first international university in India in 1994, and now the first university in the world to open a teaching campus,” Ms Pawha said.
“The new campus aims to provide a world-class post-graduate education to meet the industry’s skilled workforce demands within the country.”
The India campus will provide better opportunities for local students who cannot afford to travel and live in Australia to study.
Concentrating on the needs of the digital economy, Deakin’s world-class course offerings on campus will initially include the Master of Cyber Security and Master of Business Analytics, before expanding to degrees from the faculties of Science, Engineering & Built Environment, and Business & Law.
The campus will operate on the basis that standards and requirements are equivalent to those at Deakin’s campuses in Australia (Burwood, Geelong Waterfront, Waurn Ponds and Warrnambool). Students will receive the same standard of higher education in GIFT City as in Australia, with academic standards based on Deakin’s standards frameworks and manuals aligned with Australia’s national accreditation body, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).
The campus will also work closely with corporate leaders collocated at GIFT City for cadetship and employment opportunities for Indian students and to ensure courses align with the requirements of local employers.
Deakin has contributed over AUD 50 million in India through scholarships, research fellowships, community projects, and collaborative research. The Australia-India Economic Strategy 2035, released in 2018, cited Deakin as an ‘ideal collaborator’ with India. Over almost three decades, Deakin has developed strategic partnerships with India’s premier research organisations, businesses and academic institutions.
