NEW DELHI: Australia’s Deakin University is set to become the first foreign varsity to set up its independent offshore campus in Gujarat’s Gift City, officials said. Gift City is a central business district in Gandhinagar.
An announcement in this regard is likely to be made during the visit of Australian PM Anthony Norman Albanese to Ahmedabad in early March. Apart from Deakin, officials said another Australian university has also applied to set up its offshore campus. “The process has begun,” a Gift City official said. The other Australian academic institution is the University of Wollongong.
While Deakin University has no offshore campus, the University of Wollongong has a presence in Dubai and Subang Jaya in Malaysia. The UGC on January 5 issued draft regulations for setting up foreign universities in India. Under the rules, they can decide their admission process, fee structure, and repatriate funds back home.