UGC chairman, Australia deputy high commissioner discuss collaboration between universities

NEW DELHI: University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman M Jagadesh Kumar on Friday met deputy high commissioner of Australia, Sarah Storey, and her colleagues to discuss collaboration between Indian and Australian universities, according to officials. During the meeting, both sides exchanged views to promote effective collaboration between the two countries considering the fact that education has been recognised as one of the priority sectors for cooperation by the leadership of India and Australia, they said.

"Kumar apprised the Australian side about the various progressive initiatives taken by the UGC and the Government of India for internationalisation of the Indian higher education system, as envisaged in the National Education Policy, 2020. He also shared the key features of the UGC Regulations on Academic Collaboration between Indian and Foreign Higher Educational Institutions to offer Twinning, Joint and Dual Degree Programmes," the UGC said in a statement.

The Australian side appreciated the ushering in of the much-awaited UGC regulations on academic collaboration, and expressed that they would encourage the Australian higher educational institutions to collaborate with the Indian HEIs under the ambit of these regulations. "The charge’ d’affaires, Australian High Commission, hoped that the Task-Force on Education Qualification Recognition will strengthen mobility of students. The UGC chairman further shared that a committee, constituted by the UGC, has been working on various modalities for recognition of foreign qualifications in India," it added.

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Mathew Johnston, Minister Counsellor (Education and Research)- South Asia and Brett Galt-Smith, Counsellor, Education and Research, Australian government were also part of the meeting. "The Australian side also expressed its interest in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) in Gujarat.

Jagadesh Kumar assured the Australian side of the support and guidance of the UGC to facilitate Australian universities to set up their campuses and offer courses in diverse areas like Financial Management, FinTech, Science and Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in the GIFT City. "Kumar also shared that UGC would bring out a set of enabling regulations so as to allow top-ranked foreign HEIs to open their campuses in India. The Australian side suggested that a self-regulatory framework for foreign HEIs might be developed for promoting their establishment and operations in India," the statement said.

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