“India and Australia have a deep and rich history, underpinned by our strong bilateral higher education and research links,” Universities Australia Chief Executive Catriona Jackson said.

“Minister Pradhan’s visit reinforces the importance of this relationship to both nations and provides an occasion to strengthen existing partnerships and forge new ones.

“Education is a major economic driver in Australia and India is a big contributor, being our second largest source market for international students and generating $6 billion annually.

“The recent signing of our historic trade agreement with India will unlock more opportunities to grow our relationship and cooperate more closely for the benefit of both our nations.”

Universities Australia and the University of New South Wales will co-host a dinner tonight, with both Minister Pradhan and Australia’s Minister for Education Jason Clare attending.

Ms Jackson said universities looked forward to engaging with Minister Pradhan and reinforcing the many research areas of great mutual interest to both Australia and India.

“Australia and India’s universities are already collaborating closely, with 452 formal partnerships between them – four times as many as there were in 2007,” Ms Jackson said.

“The best minds in our nations are working together to prevent blindness and research the structural dynamics of SARS-Cov-2, to name but a couple of partnerships.

“Breaking down barriers to closer collaboration will position our countries strongly to solve challenges and embrace opportunities into the future.”