Universities move to protect Hong Kong students

Teaching staff from at least five major universities in Australia are taking precautions to protect students from Hong Kong’s extraterritorial national security law, with one institution scrutinising courses where it fears Hong Kong students could be reported to authorities by their mainland Chinese classmates, writes John Power for the South China Morning Post.

Measures the lecturers are taking include warning Hongkonger and mainland Chinese students about the scope of the law, allowing anonymous submissions of assignments, and in general treading more carefully on topics considered sensitive by Beijing, they told This Week in Asia.

Kevin Carrico, a senior lecturer in Chinese studies at Monash University in Melbourne, said Hongkongers studying in Australia were concerned that comments they made overseas would get them into trouble with the city’s authorities, and at La Trobe University in Melbourne, an e-mail circulated on 20 August by Vice-Chancellor John Dewar among senior university officials led to what a faculty member familiar with the situation described as an “audit” to identify courses where Hongkonger students could potentially be reported to authorities by their mainland Chinese classmates.
Full report on the South China Morning Post site