China becomes chief ‘knowledge partner’

Aligned with what Australian policy-makers are now calling the Asian Century, China has become Australia's chief partner in higher education cooperation, writes Joseph Xiaojun Zhang for Xinhua. The number of university agreements between the two countries has leapt almost 75% in less than 10 years, rising from 514 to 885.

A report released last week by Universities Australia, an umbrella organisation of Australian universities, said that the country had 39 universities with formal agreements with Chinese partner institutions. Universities Australia Chief Executive Belinda Robinson told Xinhua that China has become Australia's principal partner in the search for shared knowledge among the peoples of both countries.

"The value of these partnerships to Australia in terms of productivity, trade, foreign relations and cultural understanding is enormous. What we are talking about here is not selling finite resources, but generating infinite knowledge," Robinson said.
Full report on the Xinhua site