Australia, India sign education deal after attacks

Australia and India pledged to expand education links on Thursday after a series of attacks on Indian students, including a murder, tarnished relations.

Apr 08,- Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and India's Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal agreed to extend exchanges and set up a joint education council at a meeting in Melbourne.

"The fact that I am here suggests we want to take the relationship forward, it does not mean that we are not concerned about what's happening here," Sibal said.

"I think the Australian government is taking strong steps in that direction to prevent those things happening," he added.

Muggings and beatings of Indian students prompted street protests last year, before graduate Nitin Garg, 21, was killed as he walked to work at a Melbourne burger restaurant in January.

Gillard promised Australia would tighten regulation of its colleges which gained a reputation for charging overseas students for substandard courses.

"For an Indian family that sends a young person to this country a long way from home, they want to know that their young person is going to be safe, get a good experience, a great education and they're going to be able to go back home and use those skills," she said.

India badly needs more teachers and higher education opportunities after landmark legislation passed last week promising free schooling for all children aged between six and 14.