EDUCATION NEWS
News from Universities
UNSW Sydney
UNSW secures approval for first Indian campus in Bengaluru
UNSW Sydney has received its Letter of Approval from India’s University Grants Commission to establish and operate its first international campus, located at Embassy Manyata Business Park in Bengaluru, with classes set to begin in August 2026. The campus will initially offer undergraduate degrees in Business, Computer Science and Data Science, along with a postgraduate degree in Cyber Security, with further programs planned for the following academic year. Vice-Chancellor Professor Attila Brungs called the approval an important milestone reflecting UNSW’s long-term commitment to India, and said Bengaluru’s status as a global technology and innovation hub made it the ideal location for the university’s first campus there. UNSW becomes the sixth Australian institution to establish a campus in India. The campus sits within a business park home to multinational companies including IBM, Nokia, ANZ, Cognizant and Rolls-Royce, giving students access to industry exposure beyond the classroom.
$6 million gift funds scholarship for refugee and asylum-seeker students
A $6 million donation from a retired medical practitioner has established the HMJ Sassafras Scholarship at UNSW, providing full tuition, accommodation and living costs for eligible commencing undergraduate students from refugee and asylum-seeker backgrounds, across any degree program. The donor was inspired to give after reading a newspaper article about Year 12 students with refugee status who wanted to attend university but couldn’t access the same funding as other students. Each scholarship includes full tuition fees, a $10,000 annual stipend, and up to $25,000 per year in accommodation support, for the full length of the recipient’s undergraduate degree. For current recipient Mahmoud Qaddorah, who arrived in Australia in 2019 and once thought university was financially out of reach, the scholarship has been life-changing, giving him the confidence to believe he belongs at university and can aim higher for his future. He is now in his second year of a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering. Applications close 18 June 2026 for study commencing in term three.
UNSW to lead global trial into "invisible" heart disease in women
UNSW Sydney has secured backing through Wellcome Leap’s VISIBLE program, a global research initiative investing more than US$55 million in women’s cardiovascular health, with Associate Professor Erin Howden leading the RESTORE trial targeting coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD), often called invisible heart disease because it doesn’t appear on standard angiograms. The condition disproportionately affects women, especially post-menopause, and up to 70 per cent of women with chest pain who undergo angiography are told their arteries are clear, yet many continue living with debilitating angina, breathlessness and fatigue, while carrying up to four times the risk of major cardiovascular events. The trial will test whether transdermal oestrogen and structured exercise training, both safe and accessible treatments, can repair the heart’s smallest blood vessels, with 132 post-menopausal women across Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide receiving treatment over 16 weeks while researchers use advanced cardiac MRI to measure results. Associate Professor Howden said the condition has long been one of the clearest examples of how women’s cardiovascular disease has been overlooked, despite affecting the majority of women with chest pain and clear arteries.