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Students began classes at the University of Western Australia’s Mumbai campus on September 21, 2026, a day UWA Business School Dean Peter Robertson called “a historic day for UWA, the first day of teaching in India.”
The university held a ceremonial opening on September 18, when Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis formally opened the campus, alongside Western Australian Premier Roger Cook, UWA Chancellor Diane Smith-Gander and Vice Chancellor Prof. Amit Chakma, positioning UWA’s arrival within a broader ambition to make Mumbai a global center for knowledge, innovation, technology and talent.
Fadnavis: “Something Uniquely Powerful”
Welcoming UWA to Maharashtra at Friday’s launch, Fadnavis described the opening as “a new bridge between Western Australia and Maharashtra, between two great knowledge ecosystems, and most importantly, between global opportunity and Indian talent.” UWA is the first Australian Group of Eight university to establish a branch campus in India, with Mumbai marking the university’s first teaching and learning presence outside Australia.
“The Mumbai we are building for the next generation must be more,” Fadnavis said, pointing to Maharashtra’s plans for an education, technology and innovation hub adjacent to the city he calls “Mumbai 3.0.” “World-class infrastructure must attract world-class institutions. World-class institutions must attract world-class talent, and world-class talent must create the industries of the future.”
He linked the campus to India’s National Education Policy 2020, which he said had reversed a longstanding pattern. “For decades, Indian students traveled across the world in search of the best universities,” he said. “Now, some of the best universities are coming to India, and increasingly, they are coming from Maharashtra.” “Our objective is not to recreate Perth, London, or New York in Mumbai,” he said. “Our objective is to create something uniquely powerful here: global education connected to Indian opportunity.” A student at UWA Mumbai, he said, would have access to “an international academic environment” alongside “India’s largest financial institutions, global corporations, technology companies, startups, researchers, and entrepreneurs.”
Smith-Gander: A Business Case and a Personal One
UWA Chancellor Dr. Diane Smith-Gander framed the university’s arrival in Mumbai as both a business proposition and a personal one. “I’m a business person and an economist at heart,” she said, pointing to the roughly 100 jobs the investment has created in India and around 700 more across the wider ecosystem, alongside new roles back in Western Australia to support the expansion. The university’s roughly A$80 million commitment to its Mumbai and Chennai campuses, she said, reflected genuine confidence “in the future of India” and in the relationship between the two countries.
Asked what drove UWA to become the first Australian Group of Eight university to open a physical campus in India, Smith-Gander pointed to geography and history alike. “UWA has had a really deep connection with India for a very long time, our first students were back in the 1900s,” she said, describing Perth as an “Indian Ocean city” that looks out toward Mumbai and Chennai across the same ocean. When India changed its rules around foreign university branch campuses, she said, “we were very alert to the size of the opportunity, and that’s what’s made us the first mover.” UWA deliberately chose not to license its name to a local partner. “The UWA way of behaving is to bring our whole self here in a very authentic way,” she said, teaching “exactly the same courses” and holding to “exactly the same standards of recruitment for our academics” as in Perth. “I’m not going to let us get into the habit of talking about UWA Perth, UWA Chennai and UWA Mumbai,” she said, “because it is UWA. Full stop.”
She also spoke personally about what the campus means to her. Her parents, she said, “were unable to finish their high school education, because of economic reality.” As the first in her family to finish high school, and the first to attend university, she said she understood firsthand “the confidence building of a university education” and “the doors it opens.” The Mumbai campus, she said, now extends “those opportunities to a whole new generation of students here in India.”
Chakma: A Long-Term Bet on India
UWA Vice Chancellor Prof. Amit Chakma described the opening as a defining moment for the university, tracing the more recent push to establish a presence in India to a Western Australian trade mission led by Roger Cook in 2022. “It helped me as leader of the university to crystallize a vision,” Chakma said, describing that vision as UWA becoming “a long-term partner in India’s higher education future.” He acknowledged the support of the Indian government, the University Grants Commission, the Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu governments, and the Australian and Western Australian governments in establishing UWA’s presence in India.
The Mumbai campus is initially focused on business and computer science, with undergraduate and selected master’s programs. Courses include computer science, data science, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, information technology and business management. At a media briefing ahead of the formal opening, Chakma outlined a 10-year plan for at least 10,000 students across the Mumbai and Chennai campuses combined. He pointed to existing academic ties beyond the two campus cities, including collaborations with institutions in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha and a partnership with Nalanda University, which he said had already taught UWA’s inaugural class a session on well-being through meditation. “We don’t anticipate confining our activities just within the two cities,” he said. “Using our presence here, we’ll reach out and seek out other opportunities.”
Chakma also pointed to UWA’s newly launched Global Leadership Lab, offering short face-to-face, online and hybrid courses for working professionals looking to reskill.
Asked about Australia’s tightening student visa restrictions, Premier Cook said he did not control immigration policy but pointed to the Mumbai campus as a way for students to engage with Australian higher education without leaving India. “I’m a humble state premier, so I don’t have control over the rules of migration or visas to Australia,” he said, “but I do think it’s an important opportunity” for students not yet ready to make the move. Chakma, responding to the same question, pointed to student exchange between the Mumbai, Chennai and Perth campuses to give students more flexibility around cost, visas and study location. “Where the students’ study is secondary, what they study is important,” he said, “but we recognize the cultural benefit of the location.”
Scholarships and Industry Partnerships
The university has established 140 scholarships and bursaries, including three full scholarships jointly supported by the Maharashtra government and UWA. The commitment traces back to UWA’s founding in 1911, when the university’s senate split evenly over whether to charge tuition at all until founding chancellor Sir Winthrop Hackett cast the deciding vote to keep it free. “At that point in time, in the entire British Empire, we were the only university without any fees,” Chakma said.
Industry engagement forms another part of the India model. UWA has built a Global Engagement Alliance, a network of companies and government agencies in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu offering students internships, placements and curriculum input, with the Tata Group, Zoho and Red Piranha among the partners involved, alongside a separate partnership announced at the launch with Larsen & Toubro focused on joint micro-credentials, internships and student immersion opportunities.
Austrade’s Welcome
Austrade Trade and Investment Commissioner Vik Singh welcomed the expansion. “I am absolutely delighted to see the launch of UWA India. Education has long been a cornerstone of the vibrant bilateral relationship between our two nations, and it is wonderful to see this milestone create even greater access to a world class Australian education right here in India,” Singh said.
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