Gandhinagar, Nov 7: Union Education Minister and his Australian counterpart Jason Clare visited Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on Tuesday.

They further visited the Australian University campuses in India, including Deakin University and University of Wollongong campuses and Arambh (the beginning), located in the GIFT City.

Earlier on Monday, Dharmendra Pradhan co-chaired the 1st Australia India Education and Skill Council meeting with Australian Ministers Jason Clare, MP, Education Minister and Brendan O'Connor, Skills & Training Minister in Gandhinagar on Monday.

Both the Ministers comprehensively 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 our countries.

Speaking to ANI, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan informed that the Australian university is opening its campus in India to ensure that our talented youth get an affordable and quality education.

The ministers welcomed the imminent opening of the campuses of the University of Wollongong and Deakin University at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).

They also welcomed ongoing Institutional collaboration in research, between top Indian Institutes like the IITs with top Australian Universities.

Dharmendra Pradhan further signed 5 MoUs between Australian and Indian 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 is going to create more opportunities for advancing educational, research and innovation priorities, student and faculty exchanges, and more twining programs/dual degrees," the Ministry of Education said in a statement.

The 5 MoUs included, Innovative Research Universities Consortium campus, which will be a coalition of 7 public universities across Australia: Flinders University, James Cook University, La Trobe University, Murdoch University, Griffith University, University of Canberra, and Western Sydney University.

The objective of the IRU'S MOU is to provide a framework for closer cooperation between parties in strengthening the Australia-India education partnership.

The second MoU was held between Deakin University and the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC), Pradhan further explained that "in partnership with India's National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC), Deakin University has developed the 'Global Job Readiness Program' (GJRP) to address skills shortages in India. This 30-hour program will be delivered online and aims to upskill 15 million Indians over three years."

The third MoU was between Deakin University and IIT Gandhinagar. The key objective of the alliance with IIT Gandhinagar is to provide support for a quality higher education and research ecosystem in the local region.

Additionally, the fourth agreement included Monash University and Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. "The MoU is for collaboration on academic and research activities in the area of critical minerals and other areas of mutual interest. The MoU includes the exchange of academic materials, scholars and students and cooperative seminars, workshops and other academic activities," the statement said.

Lastly, the fifth MoU was signed between Monash University and the International Centre of Excellence in Mining (ICEM) with an aim to foster research and innovation collaboration between Monash and iCEM in support of the mining and mineral development sector in India.

(ANI)

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