QS India 2025: Bolstering Ties With South Indian Partners

Building on last year's success in rankings, Southern Cross University kicks off 2025 with strong momentum.

Having recently returned from Goa (India), Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Mary Spongberg, Foundation Director of the National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine (NCNM) Professor Jon Wardle and Professor of Nursing Christina Aggar attended the QS India Summit 2025, agree that partnerships between Australian and Indian universities can provide great opportunities to learn from each other.

Under this year's theme, Creating Equitable Educational Partnerships Amid Global Uncertainties: India's Role in Fostering Innovation and Research, the Summit brought together thought leaders, policymakers, and institutions to explore new pathways for global engagement, employability, sustainability, and knowledge transfer for the future of higher education.

"Southern Cross University was really well represented at the Summit. Professors Jon Wardle and Christina Aggar shared a seminar with researchers from our amazing partner KLE University, where we send around 30 nursing students every year for rural placement," said Professor Spongberg.

This seminar, Diversifying Knowledge Streams to Address Future Challenges, explored how developing new ways of thinking through cross-cultural collaboration and learning from traditional and Indigenous knowledge can create a two-way exchange of knowledge between institutions.

"Different ways of knowing and doing are going to be essential to addressing the problems of a rapidly changing world. Whether this is learning from traditional practices of health or agriculture to address contemporary needs, or learning from how we differently solve shared challenges like rural health and aged care, there is so much a truly bi-directional partnership with India and Australia can teach us.

"India and Australia have much in common – we have a deep respect for the wisdom of the past, but also an eye to the future and keen-ness to think differently about how we do things. This shared research culture underpins a lot of our strong partnerships at Southern Cross," said Professor Wardle.

For Professor Aggar, "Attending the QS India Summit 2025 was an enlightening experience, offering opportunities to develop valuable and equitable partnerships. The networking opportunities were exceptional, and the connections made were invaluable. The event was a fantastic opportunity to engage with Indian higher education leaders and develop a broader perspective of partnerships within India."

Professor Spongberg also chaired the panel Achieving Sustainability and Net Zero Targets in Higher Education: Pathways to a Greener Future, where she "was honoured to share the stage with Dr Sjoukje Heimovaara, President Executive Board at Wageningen University & Research, Professor Milind Atrey, Deputy Director (ART) at IIT Bombay, and Professor Padmakumar Nair, Director at Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology for a thought-provoking discussion of what our universities are all doing in the sustainability space," affirmed Professor Spongberg.

Southern Cross University stand-out performance in the latest QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025

Coming in at 387th overall and 27th in Australia, Southern Cross University ranked as the top-performing Regional Universities Network (RUN) member in the latest QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025.

This result establishes Southern Cross as a leader in sustainability-focused education and research.

The QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025 assessed 1,743 universities globally for their commitment to meeting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges.

Furthermore, achieving the top position for the RUN group reflects Southern Cross' leadership in addressing sustainability challenges relevant to regional communities.