Australian University of Wollongong to start GIFT City campus by July 2024

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) provides a unique opportunity to develop an ecosystem for finance and business school, University of Wollongong (UOW) Australia Vice Chancellor and President Patricia Davidson said here on Monday.

The university, which plans to start its campus at the GIFT City by July next year, unveiled its UOW India identity.

"I think GIFT City really provides a unique opportunity. Probably, you know, if you are trying to develop an environment or an ecosystem for finance and business school, you could not think of a more supportive and enabling environment than GIFT City," Davidson told reporters.

"I think this would be a big differentiator, and we are really hoping that we can get many students from Australia and other campuses to come here and study at GIFT City," she added. The university's global brand ambassador and cricketer Adam Gilchrist was also present on the occasion.

UOW and Deakin University are the two Australian universities to get approval from the International Financial Services Centre Authorities (IFSCA) to set up their international campuses at GIFT City..

The UOW, which plans to start its GIFT City campus in July 2024 with 500 students, will focus on finance and business to start with, as it wants to embrace the opportunities for working and learning at the GIFT City, Professor Davidson said..

"We will be focusing on courses that can be built at infrastructure around the (GIFT) City, so many of the courses we will focus on are fintech and computing and a whole range of accounting subjects," she said.

She said that one of the great advantages that the university brings to GIFT City is this global network of institutions. "We have already demonstrated that in our finance courses where we have students studying together from Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, so they are really cooperating in a global context," the vice chancellor said.

With several big institutions and stock exchanges operating within the GIFT City, students will be placed here, she said. "The placements would be within the GIFT City. We have had many preliminary discussions with many of the big institutions and stock exchanges. They are very hungry for our students," she said.

The university will set its fee at 50 per cent of those incurred by international students studying at UOW's Australian campus. The eligibility criteria for admission will be the same as that for Australia, she said.

The university also announced creation of the Tat Capital - UOW Global Finance Centre of Excellence, in association with Tat Capital, an Indian-Australian corporate advisory firm, stated a release.