University of Melbourne looking to build strategic links with Indian universities, technology firms

The University of Melbourne is looking to build strategic links with Indian universities as well as technology companies.

The university is exploring partnerships in teaching, research, student exchange, and commercialisation, to further its relationship with India, said Prof. Michael Wesley, deputy vice-chancellor international, University of Melbourne, who was part of a recent university delegation to the country.

“One of the focal points of India’s national education policy is driving new and innovative partnerships between India and foreign institutes, and the recent economic and trade agreement between India and Australia also establishes a positive context for building significant partnerships,” Wesley told ET.


Indian students continue to show interest in studying at the University of Melbourne, and pursue fields in engineering and IT, business studies, development studies, as well as communications. There are currently 2,000 Indian students at the university, making up 5% of the international student cohort, which the university is looking to ramp up to 25-30% in the next few years.

The university is exploring a range of student exchange programmes as a way of building up its numbers, and has had discussions with OP Jindal University and Amity University to establish partnerships and develop pilot programmes. It is also looking to extend its MAP (Melbourne Accelerator Program) to India. The programme invests in 10 Australian startups every year, equipping them with $20,000 equity-free funding, office space, and access to experts and mentors to India.

“We have also been talking to some Indian technology majors about developing research and innovation partnerships, and providing our researchers the opportunity to work in India on areas like quantum computing and artificial intelligence,” said Wesley.