On March 23, Deakin University celebrated a historic milestone in Gujarat: the inaugural graduation ceremony of its GIFT City campus. This event marked the first time a foreign university has established an international branch campus (IBC) in India and successfully graduated a cohort on Indian soil. Attended by the CM of Gujarat, Bhupendrabhai Patel, and Australian High Commissioner Philip Green, the ceremony represented the culmination of a promise to deliver world-class Australian education within India.
Quality over quantity
While the global competition for India’s education sector is intensifying, Australia seems to have taken a decisive lead. Of the 18 foreign universities currently approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to operate in India, seven are Australian. However, High Commissioner Green emphasised that, for Australia, “size is not as important as delivering on a promise.”
The objective, he said, is to provide high-quality Australian-grade education at a fraction of the cost compared to what one would pay in Australia.
The blended pedagogy
The first batch of graduates from the Business Analytics and Cyber Security postgraduate programmes experienced a curriculum that departs from traditional Indian formats. Deakin utilises an assignment-based pedagogy and masterclasses from global industry leaders.
Prof Iain Martin, Deakin’s vice-chancellor, noted that the university had to learn how to balance “very Indian” and “very Australian” styles. Initially, they launched with a model focused on self-directed learning, but found that students preferred a blend of both systems’ strengths. A critical shift has been moving students away from seeing exams as the only goal. As Prof Martin observed, “The exam is the entry point. The other stuff (soft skills) gets you the job.”
World-class at home
The financial logic of the GIFT City model is compelling for Indian families.
Tuition fees: At a little over $20,000, the fees at the GIFT City campus are roughly half the cost of completing the same degree in Australia.
Return on investment: Graduates have seen immediate results. On a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis, salaries are about Australian $114,000 (more than Rs 17 lakh).
Employability: Students have already secured placements with major MNCs, including National Australia Bank (NAB), HSBC, and India International Exchange (IFSC) Ltd.
A growing ecosystem
The rapid transformation of GIFT City has been central to this success. In 2022, the site was little more than “a road and a fence,” Prof Martin said, “but it now hosts over 600 companies.” This proximity allows for a unique industry-academia loop.
Deakin is now looking towards the future, with applications for the July 2026 intake already open. While undergraduate programmes are being considered as local infrastructure matures, the immediate focus is expanding into micro-credentials – short courses ranging from six weeks to six months – tailored to upskilling the local workforce in areas like AI implementation for finance and insurance.
Ultimately, this model proves that an international degree no longer requires relocating overseas. As Ravneet Pawha, CEO (South Asia) at Deakin, noted, the GIFT City campus allows for “world-class education without leaving home.”
It’s a Test match, not T20
Deakin’s first cohort is just the opening session of a long innings; the University of Wollongong will soon graduate its GIFT City batch, with five more Australian universities already at the crease, preparing to launch campuses across India.