The opening of a new China Studies Centre is further testament to the University of Sydney’s long-term commitment to China writes Professor John Hearn.

In Shanghai last month, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith announced the next stage of the University of Sydney’s long-term China plan: a new China Studies Centre that will come into being on January 1, 2011.

The new centre is an exciting proposition. It will build on our existing academic and research partnership with China and invest in new areas of cross-disciplinary collaboration.
It aims to be a network for deeper engagement with government, business and civil society, with a focus on the great mass of China outside Beijing.

The project is a collaboration with Fudan University, and will undoubtedly contribute to greater understanding between Australia and China.

Coupled with the University’s gold sponsorship of the Australian Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, it offers a clear indication of our rapidly maturing relationship with China.

We still welcome Chinese students in large numbers and have a healthy network of alumni in China. But our emphasis now is on building a two-way relationship. We already have 50 research partnerships and academic exchanges with our Chinese partners, and the Expo is a perfect platform to create new links with the leading universities in mainland China and Hong Kong, and explore new partnerships in the west of the country.

China’s status in world education has risen rapidly in a short time. For proof, look no further than our first University of Sydney event at the Expo: a symposium on June 28 into the complex new field of spintronics technology, when the presentation by our own Professor Simon Ringer will be supplemented by contributions from two acknowledged world experts, Professor Zhang Rong from Nanjing University and Professor Xue Qikun from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

In spintronics, as in many other areas of research, there is much to be gained from an equal and open relationship with our Chinese partners.

LINKS:

The University of Sydney: http://www.usyd.edu.au/

Fudan University: http://www.fudan.edu.cn/englishnew/

Nanjing University: http://www.nju.edu.cn/cps/site/njueweb/fg/index.php

Jiao Tong University: http://www.sjtu.edu.cn/english/index/index.htm