Australia-India Education Council

Australia-India Education Council- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Recently, Indian Union Minister for Education & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship held a bilateral meeting and co-chaired the 6th meeting of Australia India Education Council (AIEC) with Australian Counterpart.

Both countries agreed to further strengthening cooperation in education, skill development, research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Indian Minister welcomed Australian universities and skilling institutions to set up their campuses in India and explore areas of collaboration with Indian institutions.
Both Ministers also agreed to expand the cooperation in learning, skilling and research with a view to make education a key pillar under the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Indian Minister also invited Australian team to hold the 7th meeting of the AIEC in India next year.

Indian Minister stressed on the research collaboration between the two countries in the areas of Ayurveda, Yoga, Agriculture, etc.
He called for collaboration in skill certification and areas like mining, logistics management, etc.
He further said that India has set up Digital University and Gati Shakti University for which the two countries can work together to develop curriculum and other aspects.

About: The Australia India Education Council (AIEC) is a bi-national body chaired by the Education Ministers of India and Australia to expand collaboration in education, training and research.
- The inaugural meeting of the AIEC was held in New Delhi in August 2011.
Participation: The AIEC is a ‘working council’ of representatives from government, academia and industry.
Significance: The AIEC provides a forum for members to collaborate with Ministers in deciding major bilateral education priorities for the coming year.

India and Australia enjoy excellent bilateral relations that have undergone transformative evolution in recent years, developing along a positive track, into a friendly partnership.
The India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership initiated during the India-Australia Leaders’ Virtual Summit is the cornerstone of the multi-faceted bilateral relations.
India and Australia have been each other’s important trading partners. Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India and India is Australia’s 9th largest trading partner.
India and Australia are partners in the trilateral Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) arrangement along with Japan which seeks to enhance the resilience of supply chains in the Indo-Pacific Region.
Further, India and Australia are also members of the recently formed Quad, also comprising US, and Japan, to further enhance cooperation and develop partnership across several issues of common concerns.