Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Ministry of Education(MoE) and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship(MSDE) co-chaired the 1st Australia India Education and Skill Council (AIESC) meeting with Australian Ministers- Jason Clare, Education Minister and Brendan O’Connor, Skills & Training Minister.
- The meeting was held at the Indian Institutes of Technology(IIT) Gandhinagar in Gujarat on 6th November 2023.
- The Ministers reviewed the bilateral cooperation in education and skilling and agreed to further strengthen knowledge and skilling partnerships for greater mobility, employability and prosperity of people in both countries.
Note:
- The meeting focusing on education and skills as a priority area highlights the commitment of Prime Minister(PM) of India Narendra Modi and Australian PM Anthony Albanese towards strengthening knowledge bridges.
- This is Jason Clare’s 2nd visit to India in 2023.
About AIESC:
i.AIESC, previously known as the Australian India Education Council (AIEC), is a bi-national body established in 2011.
ii.The body guides the strategic direction of the education, training and research partnerships between India and Australia.
iii.The scope of AIESC was expanded to focus on promoting internationalization, two-way mobility and collaboration in the domain of education as well as the skill ecosystem.
iv.For the 1st time education and skilling are being brought under the same institutional forum.
Five MoUs signed Between HEIs of India & Australia:
During the 1st AIESC meeting, 5 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) were exchanged between Indian and Australian Higher education institutions (HEIs) to facilitate greater research collaborations in areas like Agriculture, Water Management, Critical Minerals, Healthcare, AI, Renewable Energy and Climate Change.
This will create more opportunities for advancing educational, research and innovational priorities, as student and faculty exchange.
Details of the MoUs:
i.Innovative Research Universities (IRU) Consortium Campus:
It is a coalition of seven public universities across Australia: Flinders University, James Cook University, La Trobe University, Murdoch University, Griffith University, University of Canberra and Western Sydney University.
Under this MoU, participating member will work together to explore the potential for a consortium approach to in-country delivery of degrees in India.
Objective of IRU: To provide a framework for closer cooperation between parties in strengthening the India-Australia partnership.
ii.MoU between Monash University and IIT Hyderabad, Telangana
It is collaboration on academic and research activities in the areas of critical minerals.
iii.MoU between Monash University and International Center of Excellence Mining(ICEM)
This MoU aims to foster research and innovation collaboration between Monash and iCEM which will support the mining and mineral development sector in India.
Focus Areas of MoU are:
- Cooperation in reducing the impact of mining on climate change.
- Increasing its efficiency and on enhancing capabilities in critical minerals and rare earth elements.
iv.Deakin University and National Skills Development Cooperation(NSDC) (India)
Deakin University, in partnership with NSDC, India, has developed the “Global Job Readiness Program (GJRP)”, a 30 hour program will be delivered online and aim to up skill 15 million Indians over 3 years.
Aim of GJRP: To produce a program to address the gap in life and workplace skills in India. Also, to ensure that the program is both affordable and accessible to the majority of India’s youth.
v.Alliance of Deakin University and IIT Gandhinagar
Deakin University’s Campus (Australia) was established at GIFT City, Gandhinagar (Gujarat) in alliance with IIT Gandhinagar (Gujarat). The Key objective is to provide support for a quality higher education and research ecosystem in the local region.
Significance:
The partnership will focus on collaboration in science and innovation, mobility, faculty exchange and joint doctoral programs.
It will also promote collaboration for bilateral funding opportunities and knowledge exchange through joint grant proposals, conferences and workshops.
India and Australia agreed to increase research collaboration
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan met Australian Education Minister Jason Clare and both countries agreed to increase research collaborations in priority areas including mines and minerals and critical minerals.
The two countries also agreed to have more research in areas of agriculture, mines and minerals, logistics, renewable energy and increase student and faculty exchange programme, dual degree and joint PhD.
Key points on research and collaboration:
i.Jason Clare mentioned about the significance of partnership in areas of education and skilling and noted that there are around 450 existing research partnerships between India and Australia.
ii.Both Ministers reaffirmed their joint commitment to implement qualification recognition arrangements under the Mechanism for the Mutual Recognition of Qualifications.
iii.Dharmendra Pradhan mentioned that India is working on the phase III of the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) programme and priority areas would include joint projects in critical minerals, rare earth and other mutually agreed priority areas.
iv.India has earmarked USD 2.5 million for joint projects with Australia.
Opening of Two Australian Universities in GIFT City
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Australian Education Minister Jason Clare announced the opening of two Australian Universities campuses of Wollongong and Deakin University in GIFT City(Gujarat International Finance Tec-City), Gandhinagar (Gujarat).
- the Ministers attended the event, Arambh (The Beginning) formally announcing the opening of campuses at GIFT City.
- Dharmendra Pradhan mentioned that Foreign University campuses at home to facilitate ‘study in India’ and create an inclusive educational environment in line with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Additional info:
Both Ministers addressed a conclave “Research Dialogue: New Horizons in Research Collaboration”. The aim of the conclave is to identify innovative opportunities for deepening bilateral collaborations in a thriving research ecosystem.
About Australia:
Prime Minister– Anthony Albanese
Capital– Canberra
Currency– Australian Dollar
About Ministry of Educaiton:
Union Minister– Dharmendra Pradhan(Rajya Sabha- Madhya Pradesh)
Ministers of State– Annpurna Devi; Dr. Subhas Sarkar; Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh
