Australia will showcase its international education, training and research offerings during a high-level visit to India next week.
Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham will join the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on the visit to New Delhi on April 10-11. It will be Minister Birmingham’s first visit to India in his role as Minister for Education and Training.
Prime Minister Turnbull and Minister Birmingham are leading a delegation of 120 representatives from Australian universities, industry and training institutions who will be working with their Indian counterparts to strengthen collaboration and create new opportunities.
Minister Birmingham’s visit will include bilateral meetings with India’s Minister for Human Resource and Development, Shri Prakash Javadekar who has responsibility for schools and tertiary education and with India’s Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Pratap Rudy, who has responsibility for skills.
“Australia is willing and well-placed to help India with its education aspirations, including its goal of upskilling 400 million people by 2022,” Minister Birmingham said.
“I’m looking forward to opening the 4th Australia India Skills Conference as it is a great opportunity to hear how Australia’s excellent vocational trainers can work alongside their partners in India to build the skills that India needs and to make productive and fulfilling relationships along the way.
“Australia also has a lot to learn from India and I will be discussing how cutting edge researchers from universities in both our countries can work even more closely together to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.
“Around one in 10 of Australia’s international students come from India and we’re the second-most popular destination for Indian students. We’re committed to providing Indian students who choose to study in Australia with a high quality education and safe place to study when they visit.”
Minister Birmingham’s visit will also include a roundtable with Australian and Indian universities, visits with skills providers in India, and the opening of India’s Energy and Research Institute (TERI) and Australia’s Deakin University’s NanoBiotechnology Research Centre.
“This visit underscores the priority that the Australian Government places on strengthening the education relationship with India,” Minister Birmingham said.
India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is set to become the world’s third largest economy in the next 15 years.
Around 60,000 Indians studied in Australia in 2016, an increase of 12 percent on 2015. One in ten overseas students in Australia comes from India.