On March 21, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a virtual Summit with Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia. The summit focused on economic cooperation between the two countries, mainly in the Education sector.  

During the summit, the governments of the two countries announced that a task force will be set up for Educational Qualifications Recognition. This would result in increased two-way mobility. The partnership will permit and boost qualification recognition of online and blended learning for both offshore campuses and joint degrees.

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Stuart Robert, Acting Minister for Education and Youth Australia said that the task force will identify and expand opportunities to recognize Australian and Indian higher education qualifications, by the end of the year. It will then help them to make better arrangements based on the appropriate principles and practices in recognition. Both the countries are expecting that this task force will bring new opportunities for the graduates of both India and Australia to use their qualifications. Implementation will commence in 2023.

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“This partnership will expand cooperation in education, optimize mobility outcomes between graduates of India and Australia as well as educational institutions”, said Stuart Robert. He further added, “enhanced qualifications recognitions will also strengthen professional services between India and Australia”.

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The collaboration will also help in implementing the Australian Strategy for International Education 2021-2030, whose objective is to strengthen bilateral education cooperation and the development of offshore educational services. By the end of 2022, the task force is expected to generate a mechanism leading to the expansion of education qualification recognition between India and Australia, which will be brought to practice in 2023.

Recently, Australia Trade and Investment Commission introduced SAIEP or Study Australia Industry Immersion Program for Indian students currently studying in Australian Universities. This initiative will help students to improve their employability skills.

Australian and Indian Universities are also working on an infrastructure that will enable students to commence their studies in India and then transfer to an Australian University campus. They will also have the option to graduate with a degree from either institution. 

Australia and India have built a research relationship that is centered around Management, Healthcare, and STEM. The key areas within this research partnership include high technology applications, knowledge transfer, and the development of a transnational education ecosystem.

Several Indian Universities have also collaborated with Australian Universities to pursue advanced research in areas such as stem cell research, social sciences and humanities, design, biotechnology, computational engineering, agriculture, health, environment technology, and nanotechnology. Senior Education and industry leaders are predicting significant growth in collaborative research between the two countries.

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