Australia’s Deakin University to become the first foreign varsity to set up campus in India

Australia’s Deakin University is set to become the first foreign university to enter India via an independent campus in Gujarat's GIFT City, The Indian Express has learned. An announcement is likely on March 8 during Australian Prime Minister Anthony Norman Albanese visit to Ahmedabad.

Deakin is ranked 266th in the QS World University Rankings and features among the top 50 young universities in the world. That apart, the university is placed in the 250- 300 band in the Times Higher Education World Rankings.

Deakin has four campuses in Australia -- Melbourne (Burwood), Geelong (Waurn Ponds and Waterfront) and



Warrnambool. It hosts students from 132 countries with Indians making up 27% of the student community followed by China (22%). With nearly 60,000 total students, the highest number is at its Melbourne Burwood campus where over 26000 students are enrolled.

Deakin's decision to set up its first offshore campus in India comes a year after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had first announced in her Budget speech in February 2022 that world-class foreign universities and institutions would be allowed in GIFT City to offer courses in financial management, FinTech, science, technology, engineering and mathematics “free from domestic regulations…”