What is the state of teaching and research on Asia-related topics at Australian universities? Do students have more or less opportunity to learn about Asia than in the past? Is there much variation in Asia content across disciplines? Which Asian languages are in decline at our universities and which are on the rise? What are […]
The story of Korean Studies in Australia over the last twenty years is a pleasing one, albeit with some highs and lows. In the 1990s Korean language programs were running in eight universities across Australia, including Swinburne, Griffith and Curtin Universities. Today there are fewer combined Korean language and Studies programs, but those that exist […]
Research and teaching on mainland Southeast Asian countries in Australia over the last 20 years have been shaped by the same forces affecting other areas of university life during this period: increased managerialism, difficult budgetary circumstances, the precariousness of academic employment, the casualisation of teaching, constraints on research funding, a persistent Eurocentrism in some disciplines, […]
In a world in which political developments in Asia are of central importance to Australia’s national interest, it is a sad truth that the teaching of Asian politics in Australian universities has suffered badly over the last decade or so. This is particularly the case in political science departments[1] and in Asian language departments, including […]
Obituary: Merle Ricklefs Merle Ricklefs, who passed away in Melbourne on 29 December 2019, was the pre-eminent scholar of Javanese Islam of his generation and, more broadly, one of the leading historians of Indonesia. He also played a significant leadership role in Asian Studies in Australia as well as the development of Aboriginal tertiary education […]
Bruce Jacobs, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Studies at Monash University, was the leading figure in Taiwan Studies in Australia. He authored three books, and numerous articles and commentaries about Taiwanese politics and history over his long career. Bruce first lived in Taiwan from the 1960s, during the authoritarian period, as a Columbia University graduate student […]
