The inaugural batch of 50 students at the Deakin University GIFT City Campus (in Gujarat) has settled in, and is studying Australian education in India, Deakin vice-president (Global Alliances) and CEO (South Asia) Ravneet Pawha told FE.
“This foundation batch is studying for a Master of Cyber Security (Professional) or Master of Business Analytics qualification on-campus — and yet on home soil,” Pawha said. “We have delivered on our promise which was an idea two years ago, and is now a full-fledged university.”
The GIFT City Campus will teach students under the Australian model of education, with industry placements and partnerships integrated into the curriculum.
Student and faculty profile
“Students are all Indians, and this year we will open the campus to students from South Asia region as well if they want to join,” Pawha said. “The faculty is mixed — about 75% of it was hired by Deakin in India from some of the best institutes in the country, and about 25% faculty visits regularly from Australia.”
She added that classes are being held face-to-face, but students have the opportunity to utilise a lot of online material, as they are linked to the main Deakin library online.
Even though the Deakin GIFT City Campus is functioning like a university, it doesn’t have university numbers as of now, and is going step by step. “We are looking at increasing the student strength by 30% next year, and then there will be 10% increase year-on-year,” Pawha said. “Year 2026 onwards we will expand into multiple courses and areas, and that’s when we will start hiring more faculty. Next year we will start student mobility between Deakin campuses — and students from Australia can study some classes in India and vice-versa.”
Campus placements will start early next year, but Deakin isn’t offering a job-guarantee. “I don’t think anybody can offer job-guarantee, but we tell our students they are much better placed at securing a good career after they have studied at Deakin and taken a degree with outcomes linked to industry,” she said. “We are working with local industry to forge meaningful partnerships for our students, ensuring they leave with a world-class education and established networks with some of the world’s top employers.”
Other foreign universities
In March 2023, on the occasion of India visit of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Deakin had become the first foreign university to open a teaching campus in India. It was shortly followed by University of Wollongong, which has started offering the following courses — Graduate Certificate in Computing, Graduate Certificate in Financial Technology, Master of Computing (Data Analytics), and Master of Financial Technology.
Last month, the UK’s University of Southampton also announced it will open a campus in India (in Gurugram, near New Delhi), where classes will start in August 2025. Unlike Deakin and Wollongong which are functioning under the GIFT City regulator IFSCA (International Financial Services Centres Authority), Southampton is the first foreign university to operate in India under UGC (University Grants Commission) regulations.
