MPs fear academic Peter Hoj’s China link

Search for new vice-chancellor at University of Adelaide a flashpoint for growing concern about Chinese influence.

Former University of Queensland vice-chancellor Peter Hoj. Picture: AAP

The search for a new vice-chancellor at the cash-strapped University of Adelaide has become a flashpoint for growing concern about Chinese influence on Australian campuses, with federal MPs seeking guarantees the university continues to operate without any foreign influence and with a “bedrock” commitment to freedom of speech.

The trigger for concern is the university’s interest in securing professor Peter Hoj, whose financial and academic achievements leading the University of Queensland also came with criticisms over his perceived closeness to Beijing.

With UA reeling from a collapse in international student numbers and facing a $250m budget shortfall over the next two years, SA’s flagship university and sole member of the Group of Eight has approached Professor Hoj to gauge his interest about a return to the state where he worked with distinction as vice-chancellor of the University of South Australia.

The chief qualm of the federal MPs was the decision by the University of Queensland under Professor Hoj’s tenure to offer courses co-funded by Beijing through its soft diplomacy arm, the Confucius Institute on Chinese politics, language and culture.

The University of Adelaide is home to South Australia’s only Confucius Institute and is the state’s university of choice for most international students from China, meaning it has also taken a much bigger financial hit from the pandemic than SA’s other two universities, Flinders and South Australia.

While the other two have so far avoided austerity measures, UA acting vice-chancellor Mike Brooks has asked staff to consider and vote on pay cuts to save 200 jobs and $65m over the next two years.

SA Liberal senator David Fawcett said the appointment of vice-chancellors was “a matter for the University of Adelaide” and made no specific criticism of Professor Hoj. But he said UA and all Australian universities needed to have a much clearer and stated commitment to independence and liberal values.

“I am deeply concerned about the university sector and the exposure it has to nation-states that do not necessarily share our commitment to free speech and our commitment to the contest of uncomfortable ideas,” Senator Fawcett said. “These values are the bedrock of our liberal democracy.”

Other MPs said they feared that commercial pressure facing universities meant there would be pressure to chase the international student dollar at the expense of academic independence.

The Australian revealed last month UA believed Professor Hoj would be an ideal candidate to help it restore its battered income streams, after his impressive work at UQ lifting its academic rankings and generating millions through increased overseas student numbers and a surge in philanthropic donations.

Professor Hoj is being hailed in some Adelaide circles as a potential saviour of the university, with Keating government science minister and former UA governing council member Chris Schacht saying he hoped Professor Hoj could kickstart the stalled merger talks between UA and the University of SA.

Others at the university believe Professor Hoj has been unfairly maligned over decisions made by UQ in which he had no involvement, such as the free speech scandal involving student activist Drew Pavlou. Professor Hoj faced criticisms at UQ when it emerged the Chinese government had co-funded four courses in Chinese foreign policy, language and music while he was an unpaid consultant to the Confucius Institute.

Neither Professor Hoj nor UA have commented on speculation over his possible appointment.