Universities’ top brass on a mission to ease tensions with China

Six vice-chancellors from Group of Eight universities will head to China next month.

Ian Jacobs, Vice Chancellor of UNSW is one of six vice-chancellors from the Group of Eight that are going to China. Pictured: John Feder.

Six vice-chancellors from Group of Eight universities will head to China next month in a bid to break the tension in the education relationship between Australia and China.

The six university leaders will be guests at the 120th anniversary celebrations of China’s top-ranked Peking University on May 4 as well as the concurrent World ­University Presidents Forum, which more than 100 international university leaders will be attending in Beijing.

The Group of Eight universities are using the visit as an attempt to unblock the education ties between the two countries which foundered last December when the Chinese consulate in Sydney first issued a safety warning about studying in Australia, and the Chinese government cancelled schedule meetings between its officials and Australian university leaders.

In another alarming sign, more than 20 familiarisation visits by schoolchildren to NSW public schools were cancelled in January at the Chinese end. It left school and university leaders concerned that China was closing the pipeline for future students entering public high schools, which is a pathway to remaining in Australia for their university education.

The six senior vice-chancellors are going ahead with their trip even though the umbrella group Universities Australia was forced to postpone a planned trip this month by a delegation of vice-chancellors to China because Chinese government officials would not confirm meetings.

The cold shoulder from the Chinese to education leaders is on par with the lack of availability this year of Chinese officials in government-to-government meetings between Australia and China.

Universities Australia, which represents the 39 major institutions, has set a new date for its planned China trip in October.

The Group of Eight vice-­chancellors going to Beijing next month are Ian Jacobs (UNSW), Dawn Freshwater (University of WA), Glyn Davis (University of Melbourne), Margaret Gardner (Monash University), Brian Schmidt (ANU) and Michael Spence (University of Sydney).

Late last year Dr Spence was forced to postpone a trip to China planned for January after his official meetings were cancelled.

The six vice-chancellors are hoping their delegation will meet Chinese education officials on next month’s trip.

If the doors reopen it will greatly reassure the university sector, which is highly reliant on income from Chinese students — who made up 38 per cent of international students enrolled in Australia last year.

However, while there are unmistakeable signs that the Chinese are using the $9 billion-a-year education trade between the two countries to signal their dissatisfaction with Australia’s foreign policy positions, so far there are few signs that student numbers are ­affected.

While no official figures have yet been released for international students enrolling in Australia this year, there are clear anecdotal indications that the number of new students from China commencing courses has increased again compared with this time last year.

However it is highly unlikely to match the astonishing 17 per cent growth in Chinese students commencing courses which was recorded in 2017 compared with the previous year. The Group of Eight universities are particularly reliant on the Chinese market.