Editorial | Australia overstating Chinese influence at campuses
- Concerns range from racist and xenophobic overtones to the implications of universities’ dependence on full fee-paying foreign students
Protests that have wracked Hong Kong have, in turn, prompted clashes between pro-Hong Kong and pro-China student activists on Australian campuses and intensified debate over perceptions of increasing Chinese influence. Concerns range from racist and xenophobic overtones to the implications of universities’ dependence on full fee-paying foreign students, mainly Chinese.
Such financial dependence has raised questions about academic and institutional freedoms. In this respect, Australia is at least partly to blame for not investing more of its wealth in education during more than 27 years without a recession and booming mineral exports.
Far from ensuring higher education and research got the share needed to maintain the country’s edge, governments progressively cut funding, forcing universities to rely on fee-paying international students, mainly Chinese, and joint research projects with Chinese scientists to balance the books.
It is described as a multibillion-dollar gamble that could leave taxpayers with a huge bill if student numbers fall.