The Turnbull government hopes to turbo-charge the education partnership between Australia and India by giving it special attention.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham is leading a delegation of 120 people from the higher education and skills sectors to India next week, coinciding with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's first official trip to the subcontinent.
The delegation includes representatives from more than half of Australia's universities, heads of the sector's peak bodies, TAFE representatives and private trainers.
Senator Birmingham wants the trip to be "a shot in the arm" for Australia and India's already-strong education partnerships.
"We want to super charge our education partnerships. Both countries can see the possibilities for educators, for our students, for our research and discoveries and of course for our economies," he told AAP ahead of the trip.
The minister and Mr Turnbull will address the delegates and their Indian counterparts over dinner as part of the skills mission's two-day conference.
Indians make up the second largest cohort of international students, with more than 60,000 in Australia in 2016.
The growth in their number coming here from India has been 18.5 per cent over the past five years - nearly double the overall average.
The minister said the federal government had made a concerted effort to rebuild Australia's reputation as an education destination after a significant drop in the number of students coming from India between 2010 and 2013.
"I think Australia's education sector and counterparts in India recognise the scale of the laudable challenge (Indian) Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and his government have laid down to upskill 400 million people by 2022," Senator Birmingham said.
"This trip will highlight that we've got some of the best educators and trainers in the world and we're here to help."
More than just students, institutions across Australia are collaborating with Indian partners on 70 research projects, including into a new hepatitis C vaccine, better detection of tuberculosis and ways to reduce the burden of injuries on health systems such as pre-warning hospitals what patients are coming in ambulances.
India also sees great scope for expansion of the education partnership with Australia, both in terms of sending students to our universities and in exchanging knowledge.
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