A few months after their exploratory visit to India, Deakin University seems to have moved forward swiftly with its plans for the country. The recent signing of MoU with the bio technology firm Biocon not only allows the Victoria (Australia)-based institution to gain a foothold in India, but it also seems to go with its objectives of building a firm research partnership with industries.

"Taking research initiatives to the industries and making them go through the commercialisation chain has been our forte," said Prof Sally Walker, Vice Chancellor, Deakin University, who was in Bangalore recently to sign the MoU. "This model has been an extremely successful one and Biocon, when they visited us in March this year, were very impressed by it."

A joint initiative to establish 'Deakin India Research Institute' (in Bangalore), the Vice Chancellor said, was the most important component of the MoU, which has also received the support of the State government. She explained that the university would train PhD students - who will be pursuing their research in Bangalore and work closely with the industries here. This opportunity, she felt, would give them the vital advantage of being "job-ready and have the ability to work in a cross-disciplinary way with the industry".

Prof Walker explained that this initiative is important, because foreign universities engaging with India often face the criticism of taking away the "best and the brightest" of the country, denying domestic industries their services. "Our educational initiative with Biocon would make sure the 'best and the brightest' remain here, while getting the best opportunity," she said. 

Deakin University also seems to differ in its approach to student exchange and establishing tie ups with local institution. Prof Walker said that Deakin is in dialogue with a few institutions here in taking up contract research on their behalf. "When we say 'equal partnership' with local institution, we mean conducting student exchange programmes as perfectly equal partners," she made it clear. 

"We don't see ourselves merely as a 'degree factory'. While we do provide opportunities for Indian students to study in our campus, we also envisage more of our Australian students coming to our partner institutions here in India and taking part in study activities," the Vice Chancellor clarified.

The University finds the burgeoning biotech and nano technology industry in India as the best training ground for their students, who, it believes, would get to lay their hands on real life research problems in these industries. "In the same way, Deakin would provide Indian students what we call the 'finishing school' experience by polishing their skills in solving research problems. Considering the growth of the biotech industry in this country, these skills are certainly necessary," Prof Walker pointed out.

She said Deakin has made a significant progress in establishing partnerships with local institutions, having tie ups with almost 10 to 12 institutions across the country. These include students from humanities areas as well. Masters of Architecture, offered by Deakin, Prof Walker said, is one of the most popular courses among Indian students. "Also, we have one of the best motion capture labs in Australia and students are eager to learn the technical side of things at Deakin," she said.

Later this year, students from Deakin are scheduled to visit IISc for a workshop that would enable them to collaborate on certain research areas. "We've had preliminary discussions on this and hopefully we would finalise the details shortly," the Vice Chancellor revealed.