“Australian Government Education initiatives are designed to shape the global careers of Indian students.”- Mr Xavier Simonet, CEO, Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Australian Government

Bengaluru, 30^th September 2022: As a part of the AIBX 2022 Business Mission, the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) launched future skills initiatives, the Australia-India Cybersecurity Hackathon Challenge along with key partnerships and initiatives in Bengaluru today.

 Austrade’s future skills initiatives will support skilling capacity in India by upskilling India’s workforce through world-class Australian vocational, training and education programs. Austrade will bring a delegation of Australian skills providers to India early 2023, to exchange ideas and partner for success with Indian counterparts.

To support tech collaboration, Austrade has partnered with NASSCOM and 2 universities for the Australia-India Cybersecurity Hackathon Challenge. This program will bring together industry and academia to showcase the cyber credentials of Australian and Indian universities and their students.  Students competing in this challenge will tackle real-world challenges, during the hackathon, with the help of industry experts.  

Speaking at the launch, Mr Xavier Simonet, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Australian Government said, “Australian Government Education initiatives are designed to shape the global careers of Indian students. We work closely with the students to assure world-class education, skills to support strong careers pathways and an unmatched lifestyle for students. Since the early 2000s, Australia has become a destination of choice for Indian students pursuing higher education internationally and will continue to have a strong relationship with the students. This year’s AIBX 2022 business mission comes at a time when Australia and India are more strategically and economically aligned and our focus turns to bringing Australian skills and curriculum to be delivered in India through partner institutes.”

Dr Monica Kennedy, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, Australian Trade and Investment Commission also announced several Australia-India partnerships. These announcements were witnessed by Mr Xavier Simonet, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Australian Government.

1.      The UNISA–Accenture partnership is a 10-year program. UNISA will offer a Bachelor of Digital Business program for which content is provided by Accenture. It also includes opportunity for Accenture scholarships and internships for students.

2.      Australia’s Griffith University, UpGrad, Insofe and UpGrad Atlas signed a partnership for 3+2 transfer arrangement for UpGrad students to Griffith University for a Master of Information Technology program.

3.       Curtin University signed a partnership with TEXMiN, the technology innovation hub of the IIT-Indian School of Mines Dhanbad. This partnership will foster development and commercialisation of cyber-physical system based services & products related to exploration and mining. The signing will also see the establishment of a world-class center at the IIT ISM Campus at Dhanbad.

Dr Kennedy also launched Study Australia’s “India Student Hub (Digital Education Hub) toolkit” which provides Indian students with access to course search tools, an employability hub and masterclass library to help identify their strengths, scope career options and build their employability skills. Students will also have access to course information to identify the best courses for their careers. The hub elevates ‘Study Australia’ brand positioning through omni-channel campaigns and special projects like the Industry Experience Program, Study Entrepreneurship Challenge, and Study Australia showcase. The site also hosts the ‘partner hub’ which provides up-to-date information to education partners.