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New South Wales Premier Chris Minns on Monday said the newly launched Western Sydney University (WSU) campus in India will help strengthen education ties between Australia and India, calling the partnership an important step towards building closer connections between the two countries.
Addressing the launch event in Delhi, Minns said WSU would contribute to India's goal of increasing higher education participation among young people and bring the university's values and principles to India. "I've been struck by the Indian government's stated target of having 50 per cent of young people enrolled in higher education by 2035. It's an ambitious but important target. And this is something that Western Sydney University can be integral in delivering that goal," Minns said. Highlighting the university's focus on empowering students through education, he said, "There is something wonderful about a teacher or a professor at the front of that classroom seeing something in a student that they perhaps don't see in themselves. Something that you cannot get from an app or a computer or a website. Something that only a direct relationship between the teacher at the front of the classroom and the student can provide." Minns said the WSU campus in India would carry the same values and principles that the institution has followed in Australia. "That red Western Sydney University badge, which we see commonly as residents of Sydney, will now be right here in India with the same values and the same principles," he said. Calling the partnership significant for Australia-India relations, Minns said closer educational links would help create stronger ties between the younger generations of both countries. "The relationship between Australia and India is a strong one, and it is close, but there's more for it to go. There are more opportunities, economic opportunities between the two countries in the future," he said. "I think the reason it will meet its full potential is that we'll have a generation of young Indian kids and a generation of young Australian kids with closer connections in the future," he added. The New South Wales Premier also highlighted the economic potential of his state, saying New South Wales has one of Australia's largest economies with strong sectors in agriculture, finance, technology, mining and education. "We're proud of our multicultural community, including 200,000 young Australians with Indian heritage, which we're very proud of and have now linked with the fastest-growing economy in the world," Minns said. Congratulating Western Sydney University, Minns said the institution has played a key role in educating generations of students and producing professionals across different fields. "Western Sydney University is a wonderful institution in our educational system. An organisation that has educated hundreds of thousands of people and been responsible for filling up our law firms, our senior academic postings, our senior positions in business, our emergency departments with doctors and nurses, and teachers across the board," he said. He added that the university's focus has always been on providing opportunities irrespective of students' backgrounds. "It has always been part and parcel of the constitution of this institution, saying to everybody regardless of your background or where you are from, there's an opportunity in this economy. What we will provide you with is the education," Minns said. (ANI)
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