Australia India summit

A 30-member Australian higher education delegation visited the Capital recently. The team was exploring opportunities for research and educational linkages between Australian and Indian educational institutions. The delegation met Amitabh Kant, CEO NITI Aayog, professor NV Varghese, VC, National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), and Dr Rajender Singh Sangwan, Director, Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research who provided an overview on the Indian higher education policy and its development.

Some of the key activities involving the Australian higher education delegation includes:

PhD and research workshop involving leading Australian and Indian Universities: The Group of Eight (Go8) Australia, which comprises of Australia’s eight leading research-intensive universities interacted with vice chancellors, deans, academics and researchers of India’s leading universities and research institutions at a PhD and research workshop. Working jointly with Indian researchers, Go8 Australia will continue to create industry-ready PhD graduates who can undertake  research programmes and projects in medicine, agriculture, water-resource management and energy research.

School principals and school counsellor’s education masterclass

A professional development masterclass was organised for over 40 school principals and school counsellors focused on theories of learning and instructional design principles, creating a culture of enquiry and building professional learning communities. It also talked about pedagogy and assessment methods and curriculum leadership including design and delivery.

Australia-India Research Excellence’ presentation: A seminar highlighting successful Australia-India Research collaborations was organised to showcase successful Australia-India research engagement and this featured

• The TERI Deakin Nanobiotechnology Centre: A joint partnership between Deakin University, Australia and TERI, India to develop innovative nano-biotechnology solutions in agriculture and environment
• National Trauma Research Institute, Australia and the All India Institute of Medical Science that are investigating the effects in India of a number of innovations in systems of trauma care and rehabilitation
• Project involving Queensland University of Technology and Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for the developing iron rich bananas

Some of the key Australian education industry leaders participated includes Murali Sastry CEO, IITB-Monash Research Academy; Anna Parkin, Dean International, Curtin University; Alastair McEwan, Dean, UQ Graduate School, The University of Queensland; Peter Hodgson, ARC laureate and director, Deakin University etc.