How do you look at the rise of Indo-Australian education ties and collaborative efforts in the field of academics and research?

I believe that there has never been a more exciting time for our relationship. India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, along with the recent Australia-ESTA agreement is creating a deeper and innovative framework for trans-educational opportunities.
The University of Melbourne is excited by the vision, and we are delighted to be here, renewing key partnerships with institutions across the country with a series of announcements to expand our blending learning programmes. We are working with colleagues in institutions such as the India Institute of Science (IISc), SPPU, IIT Madras and others to explore how we can work together on expanding our joint degree and joint PhD offerings.

Finally, we see lots of alignment between our respective countries in industry-academia collaboration. While we have been here, we have been exploring opportunities for commercial partnerships with India’s tech industry and furthering our existing research collaborations in water management, public health and disability and advances in maintaining livestock production during the summer months.

What makes Australia a preferred education destination for international students?

International students are part of the integral fabric of our educational community, and we feel privileged that these talented students choose Australia to come and study.

The country has one of the best higher education systems across the globe, boasting a number of the world’s top 100 universities, with the University of Melbourne itself being number 1, and the city of Melbourne in the top 10 student cities in the world.

Almost every major city – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast – is also in the world’s top 100 student cities. The University of Melbourne is also home to a diverse set of disciplines from the Victorian College of the Arts, the Melbourne Law School (ranked 5th in the world) and as the University partner of Melbourne’s BioMedical Precinct, widely acknowledged as one of the world’s best for medical research.

In the next five years, where do you see this valuable collaboration between India and Australia heading?

Like the relationship between Australia and India itself, the University of Melbourne has focused on developing a strong foundation of partnerships. Over the coming years, we expect to see the establishment of more blended learning programmes between Australian and Indian universities. We hope to drive greater shared learning experiences between Australian and Indian students. And certainly, at our University, we will be expanding our offering of contemporary India studies in the University’s core undergraduate programmes.

In research, we will see an increase in joint publications sharing complementary expertise and increases in funding for joint research projects from external sources, including industry, philanthropy and government grants.

How is the University of Melbourne planning to attract Indian students?

The University is home to an engaged and growing cohort of Indian students. And the state of Victoria has the highest number of migrants from India with more than 182,000 residing in the state in 2020, making the city of Melbourne a very desirable place for our students to live.

The University of Melbourne is also the only higher education institution in Australia offering its unique programmes that make our graduates most employable. The curriculum builds a flexible mindset, interdisciplinary thinking and critical skills, as well as offers professional accreditations in Medicine, Law, Engineering, Education and more.

Students then select a major and through every year of study, they will build in-depth specialist knowledge in their chosen major. Each degree has a different set of majors to explore. However, our students are encouraged to go beyond their study to build an interdisciplinary skill set and critical thinking, as well as stronger problem-solving, communication and leadership abilities. Many students try something completely new – theatre, dance, a language, psychology or an instrument.

The University also has a comprehensive programme to help students transition into life in Melbourne, including:

• Expansion of the Melbourne Graduate Scholarships program, a one-off $5000 scholarship to support current undergraduate students to continue their graduate studies at the University of Melbourne
• Expansion of merit-based scholarships for international students, starting at $10,000 for new and current high- achieving international undergraduate and graduate coursework students, wherever they are in the world
• Social activities, buddy and mentoring programmes, campus tours, and invitations to student orientation activities