The strength of the ACAA’s network and its growing recognition was highlighted over the last few months as we met with a number of senior Australian leaders. The ACAA discussed its thoughts on Australia in the Asian Century with Ken Henry AC and updated Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Sen. Bob Carr on the ACAA’s recent milestones. We were also pleased to meet with Kruno Kukoc, First Asst, Secretary – Migration & Visa Policy, Dept. of Immigration & Citizenship at an information sharing session where the new Streamlined Visa procedures were discussed along with new Skill Select migration policies. This was followed by a separate meeting with the CEO of the Migration Institute of Australia (MAI). We hope to brief alumni on these new migration policy changes in July. The ACAA Education Committee also organized a welcome dinner for newly appointed Australian Education International Minister-Counselor, Cathryn Hlavka who is based in the Australian Embassy in Beijing.

 

We welcome the ongoing support of various Australian Government agencies as we continue to serve the needs and interests of the rapidly expanding network of 6,750 Australian Alumni in China.

 

 

In our efforts to promote life-long learning, the ACAA has re-doubled our efforts to engage visiting Australian university professors by holding public lectures in cities across China. In May we welcomed Assoc. Prof. Peter Verhezen (Visiting Associate Prof. / Principal Fellow at the Dept. of Management and Marketing at the University of Melbourne) who spoke in Shanghai and Beijing, drawing on his 20 years of South East Asia experience to discuss “Good corporate governance: a foundation of good business practices.”

 

We were also delighted to welcome Professor Bill Louden (Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Western Australia) who spoke in Beijing on “Knowledge-Based Education: Inspiring creativity and leadership in the 21st Century”. These public lectures, held in conjunction with CPA Australia, were well attended and thought-provoking and the ACAA plans to further develop this public lecture initiative in the future.

 

 

The ACAA was invited to attend discussions at the Australian Embassy, Beijing, with national board members from the Australia China Business Council and the Australian Chamber of Commerce. The discussions, followed by drinks at the ambassador’s residence, were undertaken to improve collaboration and understanding between the three organisations. As a result, we hope that a three-party MOU can be signed and future collaborative initiatives can be undertaken for the benefit of the broader Australia-China community.

 

 

In June we welcomed two new members to our Shanghai office to continue the ACAA’s East China expansion and to support the 2012 Australia China Alumni Awards. Ms Jill Tang, ACAA Director of Communications and Development (East China) was born in Shanghai and lived in Australia from 2003 to 2011. Jill recently obtained her MBA degree (majoring in strategy and marketing) from Melbourne Business School. She also holds a Masters of Applied Finance degree (Monash University) and Bachelor of Commerce (Latrobe University).

 

Ms Michelle Zhu is the ACAA’s new project manager in Shanghai. Michelle graduated from Griffith University in 2010, holding an Advanced Masters degree in Commerce and a Bachelors degree in Engineering from Shanghai Normal University.

 

Both Jill and Michelle look forward to meeting with visiting Australian University staff and to getting to know alumni based in East China where they will be managing a busy program of events. ■

 

 

 

The Nomination period for the 2012 Australia China Alumni Awards officially opened on May 21 and will remain open until midnight (CST), July 18. This year, the awards will move to Shanghai where the Gala Awards Dinner will be held on Saturday, September 15.

To download a copy of the nomination form, visit the ACAA website at: www.AustChinaAlumni.org/awards.