India and Australia today signed a major education deal to take their relationship forward.<br/><br/>The deal was signed as Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal met Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Melbourne.<br/><br/>Under the deal, the two sides agreed to set up a joint education council and to extend exchanges in the field of education.<br/><br/>A Joint Ministerial Statement said, India and Australia are at an exciting time in their<br/>Relationship and people-to-people contacts are at the heart of the bilateral relationship.<br/><br/>Sibal and Gillard, who is also Australia's education minister said their governments attached high priority to the safety and well being of students as they played an important<br/>role in the knowledge partnership envisaged between the two countries.<br/><br/>Over 100 cases of attacks on Indians were reported last year in Australia, including the murder of 21-year-old Nitin Garg, straining ties between the two countries.<br/><br/>They also led to the Indian government issuing a travel advisory asking students to exercise caution while in Australia, and were followed by a flurry of high-profile visits by Australian dignitaries, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, to India.<br/>