Here is an interesting opinion piece from Anthony Welch of Sydney University published in the East Asia Forum about the need for Australia to step up its game in higher education and research to stay competitive in the region.
The strategic response to the global shift to the East and the rise of China has seen all of Australia’s ‘top-ten’ sources of international higher education students coming from Asia. Asia contributed AU$22.2 billion (US$15 billion) of the overall total of AU$32.4 billion (US$22 billion) to international education in 2017–18. Alumni relations and the growth of the Asian knowledge diaspora, relations with ASEAN and the New Colombo Plan are pillars of a relationship that needs further development.
Extending education and research collaboration between Australia and the countries of East and Southeast Asia becomes all the more important at a time of regional instability. Australia’s spectacular failure in language learning (the lowest in the OECD) — and especially Asian languages and Asia literacy more generally — needs redress. More specialist Asia expertise is needed urgently.
Without serious and sustained action to create a bigger local talent pool of Asia specialists, including some drawn from local knowledge diasporas, Australia’s education relations with Asia are likely to falter.
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