Australian degree in India: the fees and the visa’s 16-month rule

At its GIFT City campus in Gujarat, Deakin University estimates the total course fee for all 16 credit points of its Master of Cyber Security (Professional) at A$39,600 for students starting in July 2027. At Waurn Ponds in Geelong, its 2027 course page for international students puts the first year alone, 8 credit points, at A$45,800. Deakin says graduates in India receive “the same Deakin University qualification and academic standards as Australia”. Price is the first thing an Australian degree in India changes. The second is access to Australia’s Temporary Graduate visa, which counts only study done in Australia.

By this magazine’s count, drawn from the universities’ announcements and releases from India’s Ministry of Education, at least eight Australian universities now teach in India or have received in-principle approval to do so. The newest classes were due to begin on 19 October 2026 at the University of Western Australia’s campus in Chennai, two weeks after the university announced final approval from India’s University Grants Commission.

From GIFT City in 2024 to Chennai in 2026

Deakin and the University of Wollongong opened first, both in GIFT City, an international financial services centre at Gandhinagar. Deakin’s first students started classes on 8 July 2024; Wollongong’s campus has been open since November 2024. Deakin teaches master’s degrees there in applied artificial intelligence, business analytics and cyber security; Wollongong teaches business, computing and financial technology.

In 2026 the openings spread beyond Gujarat. UNSW Sydney officially opened its Bengaluru campus at the end of July, with classes scheduled from 10 August in business, computational data science, computer science and cyber security. Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Narendra Modi welcomed Victoria University’s Letter of Approval for Gurugram, in the Delhi National Capital Region, in their Joint Statement of 9 July. The university’s first undergraduates started classes in late August, with postgraduates due from 28 September. The University of Western Australia opened the first of its two Indian campuses in Andheri East, Mumbai, on 18 September.

Three more approved in principle

Flinders, Western Sydney and La Trobe universities have received Letters of Intent, the commission’s in-principle approval. Flinders, whose letter the same Joint Statement welcomed, says it will open in Bengaluru in early 2027 with business and technology courses, including an MBA; Austrade notes the opening depends on regulatory approvals.

Western Sydney University’s date has moved. In July 2025 it said its Greater Noida campus would teach from August 2026; it now gives 2027. La Trobe received its letter for Bengaluru in July 2025, according to India’s Ministry of Education.

What an Australian degree in India costs

Both GIFT City campuses set their fees in Australian dollars. For students starting in 2026, Wollongong lists A$27,900 as the total course fee for its Master of Financial Technology in India, a minimum of four trimesters full time. Its 2026 schedule for international students in Australia gives an indicative total of A$61,272 for the course of the same name, also four trimesters: more than twice as much. Fees change annually, the India page notes.

Victoria University charges in rupees. Its three-year Bachelor of Data Science in Gurugram is listed at ₹11 lakh (₹11,00,000) a year for domestic students, and more than 30 of the university’s first undergraduates received a scholarship worth up to ₹3 lakh (₹3,00,000) a year off tuition.

Two routes to recognition in India

On the universities’ account, the campus changes and the degree does not. UNSW says: “Students will receive the same UNSW degrees as graduates studying in Australia.” Wollongong says students in GIFT City earn the same Australian degree taught across its international campuses. Flinders’ vice-chancellor, Colin Stirling, has said students in Bengaluru will graduate with the same academic standards that define a Flinders degree in Australia. Deakin also describes its GIFT City degrees as approved by India’s Ministry of Education.

India has set terms of its own. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on 3 August 2026, the Minister of State for Education, Dr Sukanta Majumdar, said the University Grants Commission’s rules for foreign campuses are designed to hold teaching in India to the standard of the parent campus abroad. Qualifications awarded under them, the minister added, “shall be recognized and treated as equivalent” to those of Indian institutions, with no further equivalence needed. GIFT City’s campuses sit outside those rules; there, a 2023 Indian Finance Ministry notification leaves equivalence to the Association of Indian Universities or similar agencies.

Sixteen months in Australia for the graduate visa

Some campuses offer a bridge. Victoria University’s Global Mobility Program lists three options: a semester exchange, an undergraduate transfer to Melbourne, or progression from a bachelor’s in India to postgraduate study in Melbourne, all “subject to academic requirements and availability”. Deakin offers immersion programs at its Australian campuses, and Western Sydney University says its students will have immersion opportunities in Sydney.

The Temporary Graduate visa, which lets international students live, study and work in Australia after finishing their studies, is where the routes part. Home Affairs requires at least two academic years, or 92 weeks, in a course registered on CRICOS, the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students, completed over no less than 16 months while physically in Australia. A student who “studied solely at an overseas campus of an Australian educational institution” has not met that requirement. A course split between the two countries can still meet it if the Australian part reaches those thresholds.

Austrade and the federal Department of Education have set up a community of practice for universities establishing campuses in India, and the Joint Statement spoke of “the growing number of Australian university campuses operating in India or approved to do so”. At 2026 fees, Wollongong’s financial technology master’s in GIFT City costs less than half its Australian price. The months that count towards staying on in Australia are still counted only in Australia.