Australia’s Victoria University gets UGC approval for Gurugram campus; to offer UG in data science, IT, MBA

Australia’s Victoria University (VU) is set to open its campus in Gurugram after receiving a letter of approval from the University Grants Commission (UGC). The foreign university will also offer various undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) programmes in business, data science, information technology, cyber security, MBA and master of applied IT.

The UGC's approval followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia for the Third Australia-India Annual Summit in Melbourne, where his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, welcomed the approval to establish VU’s campus in India.

Explaining the Australian education model, Karen Dodd, pro vice-chancellor, Victoria University India, said: "The UGC approval will allow us to introduce an education model built around student success, innovation and close engagement with industry. At the heart of this is the VU Block Model, which encourages students to immerse themselves in one subject at a time through collaborative, interactive learning. We look forward to creating a campus where students feel supported to explore new ideas, develop practical skills and graduate ready to succeed in an increasingly global workplace."

Australia' VU to offer student mobility, semester exchange programmes

According to an official statement, the UGC approval has placed VU to a list of select groups of leading international universities to establish campuses in India.

The university will implement its VU Block Model under which students will study one subject at a time through intensive learning blocks aided by smaller classes and continuous assessment.

The Block Model is developed and refined in Australia to improve student engagement, academic progression and employability by equipping students to focus entirely on one subject at a time.

Students who will graduate from VU, will be awarded with a recognised Australian qualification degree. Besides, they will have access to VU’s global mobility programme, which will offer semester exchange, UG transfer and PG progression at the University’s Melbourne campus.

Eligible students will also benefit from the VU Block Model India Scholarship, providing merit-based scholarships of up to Rs 3 lakh per year throughout their programme, the statement read.

Currently, VU has approximately 52,000 students across the continent and is ranked among the world’s top 3% of universities. The Delhi-NCR campus will strengthen academic, research and industry collaboration between Australia and India while expanding access to internationally recognised, industry-focused education, as per the official statement.