Western Sydney University Can Help India Meet 50% Higher Education Target by 2035: NSW Premier

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has said the newly launched Western Sydney University (WSU) campus in India can play an important role in helping the country achieve its target of having 50% of young people enrolled in higher education by 2035.

Speaking at the campus launch in New Delhi on Monday, Minns described the target as ambitious but important and said Western Sydney University could be “integral” to achieving it.The development comes as India expands the presence of foreign universities in the country under the higher-education internationalisation framework. WSU has received approval to establish its branch campus in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, adding another international institution to India's growing higher-education landscape.

Minns said the university would bring to India the same emphasis on educational access, opportunity and student empowerment that it has followed in Australia. He also stressed the value of direct interaction between teachers and students, arguing that some aspects of education cannot be replicated through digital platforms alone.The Greater Noida campus is expected to offer programmes in areas including business analytics, business marketing, innovation and entrepreneurship, logistics and supply chain management, with the university also planning programmes linked to data science, sustainability and emerging technologies.The campus is part of a wider expansion of foreign university education in India. The Australian government has noted that Western Sydney University in Greater Noida, along with several other Australian universities, has received formal approval to establish branch campuses in India.India's higher-education expansion is also closely linked to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. NITI Aayog documents identify achieving a 50% gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education by 2035 as an important national objective.For Uttar Pradesh, the WSU campus adds to Greater Noida's emerging position as an international education hub. The Union government has listed the university's proposed Greater Noida branch among foreign higher-education institutions being established in India.Minns also linked the university's expansion to the broader Australia-India relationship, saying closer educational connections between students in the two countries could eventually strengthen economic and professional ties.He highlighted the sizeable Indian-origin community in New South Wales and the state's established strengths in areas such as agriculture, finance, technology, mining and education.The university already has academic and research links with Indian institutions and government bodies, including collaborations involving ICAR, the Ministry of Jal Shakti and IISc in areas such as agriculture, water management, food security and technology.The Greater Noida campus therefore represents more than an overseas university expanding its footprint. Its launch comes at a time when India is seeking to increase higher-education access while attracting international institutions, research partnerships and globally oriented academic programmes.