GLOBAL UNIVERSITIES UP THEIR INDIA GAME

FOREIGN PLAYERS SETTING UP CAMPUSES IN INDIA WILL COMPETE WITH LOCAL COUNTERPARTS TO ATTRACT BEST STUDENTS. EDUCATORS BELIEVE THIS WILL LIFT THE QUALITY OF LEARNING.

- ARNIKA THAKUR

NEXT YEAR, AROUND 100 Indian students will start their postgraduate diplomas in cybersecurity and business analytics at Deakin University's new international campus at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) in Gandhinagar. Deakin, which climbed 33 places to 233 on QS World University rankings this year, was the first institution that agreed to open a teaching campus in India after University Grants Commission released draft regulations for entry and operation of world's top 500 universities in India.

"Cybersecurity and business analytics are areas where there is a huge demand in India for high quality professionals. As economy becomes more data and digital driven, there is a shortage of people in that space," Iain Martin, vice chancellor of Australia-based Deakin University, tells Fortune India. The courses at Deakin's India campus will be the same as those offered at its Australian locations. The faculty will be 80% local and 20% from Australia. "We're bringing the Australian model of education, which is a little bit different. It's employment and industry-facing and uses a different pedagogy. Pretty much everything we do is designed to empower students as learners. There's not much didactic, lecture-driven teaching. A lot of it is teamwork," he says.