The University of Melbourne has brought all of its Asia-focussed centres and institutes under the one umbrella, with the recent establishment of its Melbourne Asia Research Network.
The Asia Institute, Asialink, the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, the Asian Law Centre, the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society and other Asia-focused institutes and centres at the university will now be linked through the new research centre.
Melbourne University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Glyn Davis, said the Network would give the university a renewed presence in the region.
Professor Davis said the network would improve staff and students’ ability to foster productive interdisciplinary collaboration within and beyond the university in tackling global research challenges, including health and wellbeing, sustainability and resilience, purpose and place, which have a particular significance in Asia as it undergoes rapid changes.
“We want to ensure our graduates have an appropriate set of Asia-relevant capabilities and experiences. To do that, we need to provide new learning and teaching initiatives to support our aspirations,” he said.
Professor Davis said the new centre would help ensure the university met its broader national and international needs for Asia relevant-capability, as laid out in the Gillard government’s Asian Century White Paper.
The University of Melbourne also recently announced its Melbourne-Asia Visiting Fellowship Program, which will support Visiting Fellows to Melbourne from Asian universities until 2015. ■
