By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI:The ‘Third India-Australia Education and Skills Council’ (AIESC) meeting was held in New Delhi on Monday in the presence of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Australian Education Minister Jason Clare. The important meeting was attended by Australian Minister for Skills and Training Andrew Giles and Assistant Minister for International Education Julian Hill and members of the Australian delegation.
On the other hand, a big announcement was made at the 3rd Australia-India Education and Skills Council meeting. One of Australia’s leading universities, the University of New South Wales (UNSW), which is ranked among the top 20 in the world in the QS World University Rankings, is going to set up a branch campus in India. In this regard, Shri Pradhan and the Australian Education Minister jointly presented a Letter of Intent (LOI) to the University of New South Wales. This step will further strengthen the India-Australia knowledge partnership. He congratulated UNSW and welcomed India.
Shri Pradhan said that education, skills and research are the key pillars of the India-Australia Strategic Partnership. Both India and Australia reiterated their commitment to work together in the following areas: cooperation in early childhood care and education, adoption of technology, institutional capacity building and empowerment of teachers, preparing youth for important and emerging sectors such as AI, advanced technology materials, semiconductors, medtech, energy and sustainability. The meeting discussed the launch of sports education and new skills partnership programs. It was decided to successfully implement the discussions held in the areas of cooperation schools, higher education and skills education, which will further strengthen the ties between our two countries in the future.
Earlier, Union Education Minister Shri Pradhan held a meeting with the Australian Education Minister and both the Ministers also addressed a joint press conference. On this occasion, the cooperation between the two countries in the field of education, innovation and research was reviewed and there was a thoughtful discussion on strengthening the relationship from ‘pre-school to PhD’. On this occasion, Shri Pradhan said, for India, our priority is to develop critical thinking among students and create an ‘AI-ready’ generation. Both the countries are committed to adding a new chapter in the India-Australia education partnership. In this cooperation, joint programs between higher education institutions of both the countries, funding for joint research in areas of strategic importance and other mutually beneficial issues were discussed.
Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary was also present in the meeting.
