Ramesh Pokhriyal, Dan Tehan, India, Australia agree to enhance collaborative research on climate change, water conservation

India and Australia on Friday agreed to enhance collaborative research in the fields of climate change, energy, water conservation, soil science, space research, among other areas, the HRD Ministry said.

The discussion in this regard was held during a meeting between Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' and an Australian delegation led by country's Education Minister Dan Tehan here.

Discussions on the ways to enhance cooperation between India and Australia in the education sector were also held during the meeting, the HRD Ministry said in a tweet.

Speaking on the occasion, Pokhriyal said that as many as 54 joint projects from Australian and Indian institutions have been initiated in less than a year since the launch of Scheme for Promotion of Academic Research & Collaboration (SPARC), as per an official release.

The SPARC is among several schemes initiated by the ministry for improving the quality of higher education by way of internationalisation of higher education.

Pokhriyal informed that the ministry has also started short term India-centric courses related to Yoga, Ayurveda, Naturopathy, among others, and expressed hope that there would be enhanced participation from Australia in all these programmes.

"I would like to congratulate the Australian side for having a productive meeting and I am looking forward for continuous cooperation in the field of education in future as well," the minister said.