Saturday, August 6, 2011

Australia keen on upgrading education ties with India!


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K. Venkataramnan, The Hindu / CHENNAI, August 6, 2011.

Chris Evans, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, Australia, at an interview with “The Hindu” in Chennai on Wednesday. Photo: S.S. Kumar
Chris Evans, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, Australia, at an interview with “The Hindu” in Chennai on Wednesday. Photo: S.S. Kumar.

Visiting Minister says they should move towards joint degrees, credit transfers to boost student mobility

Australia and India are moving towards a collaborative framework in education, under which universities from both countries will award joint degrees, recognise each other's qualifications and have mutual transfer of academic credits.

At the same time, Australia is keen on leveraging its vast experience and expertise in vocational training to fill the huge gap in the availability of skilled personnel in India.

Australia's Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, Christopher Evans, who visited the country in the past few days, mainly in connection with the first meeting of the Australia-India Education Council (AIEC), feels that his country's engagement with India in the education sector is not just about Indian students studying in Australia but also about Australians pursuing part of their academic programme in Indian institutions.

“One of the barriers has been the lack of recognition of each other's education and credit transfers. So, if someone comes from India and studies in Australia for six months, they may not get recognition for their Indian degree and vice-versa. We have identified this as a key thing we have to fix, because increasingly universities are interested in joint degrees,” Mr. Evans told The Hindu in an interview here.

“I am very keen on getting Australian students to study for about six months abroad, as it will open their eyes to the world. That is why, credit transfer is important. They will come if they know it counts for their degree, but not if their six months' work is not credited,” he said.

Citing the example of The Energy and Resources Institute of India (TERI), New Delhi, and Deakin University, Australia, establishing a BioNanotechnology Research Centre in Delhi, he said the two institutions had a successful joint programme, and more such partnerships were in the offing.

Skills transfer
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