MELBOURNE, Apr 9: Australia will showcase its international education, training and research offerings during Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s visit to India to help it in its goal of upskilling 400 million people by 2022.
Australia’s Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham will join Turnbull on the visit to New Delhi on April 10-11. It will be Birmingham’s first visit to India as the Minister for Education and Training.
They will lead a delegation of 120 representatives from Australian universities, industry and training institutions who will work with their Indian counterparts to strengthen collaboration and create new opportunities.
In India, Birmingham will have bilateral meetings with Minister for Human Resource and Development Prakash Javadekar and with Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Pratap Rudy.
“Australia is willing and well-placed to help India with its education aspirations, including its goal of upskilling 400 million people by 2022,” Birmingham said.
He will open 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.”
Birmingham said Australia has a lot to learn from India and he will discuss how cutting-edge researchers from universities in both the countries can work even more closely 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,” he said.
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,” 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 per cent on 2015. (PTI)