Maximizing Australia's Asia knowledge: repositioning and renewal of a national asset

Abstract

This report is neither a celebration nor, to say it in Australian, a whinge. It provides a snapshot of a national asset---Australia's Asia knowledge. It points to areas of achievement in expanding that knowledge since the last similar report in 1989. But it emphasizes that much remains to be done for Australians to acquire the understanding of their immediate neighbourhood that is essential for cultural, economic and strategic well-being. It argues that major systemic changes in higher education, plus the ageing of a cohort of specialists, create conditions in which the Asia-knowledge investment could evaporate – at a time when globalisation makes it more relevant and important than ever before. Repositioning and renewal are essential to ensure that the existing base is used strategically to adapt to new conditions. The report suggests ways to reposition and renew Australia's Asia knowledge and to extend it more widely and beneficially to Australians. This report offers a plan to reposition and renew Australia's Asia knowledge. It calls for the establishment of a Council for Maximizing Australia's Asia Knowledge and Skills (C-MAAKS) to initiate and oversee this process. It calls for governments and educational institutions to re-send strong signals to the community about the importance of understanding Australia's largest, nearest and least known, strategic and economic partners. It recommends a package of measures, which use new technologies, to achieve critical mass and stability in the teaching of languages, particularly languages of lower demand. Drawing on US, UK and Canadian examples of institutional change in similar circumstances, it outlines a program to bring a new generation of Asia specialists into Australian higher education in ways that allow them to diffuse their expertise across a wider spectrum of students and subject areas than in the past. It recommends use of new technology to allow Australian business people and professionals, who find themselves engaging with Asia, to have access to the best Australian expertise to get answers to questions and to pursue systematic study at various levels of commitment.