The Asian Studies Association invites you to a forum to discuss the future of Asian Studies in Australian universities.

Over the last two decades, policy settings and long-term trends in the university sector have placed pressure on Asian studies, undermining the study and teaching of some Asian languages and fields of study, while encouraging others. Hopes by successive generations of academics that Australian governments would invest systematically in Australia’s Asia expertise have not borne fruit. The current crisis of the Australian university sector as a result of the COVID pandemic is both accelerating these long-term trends, as well as adding acute new pressures. Yet amidst the gloom, opportunities remain.

In this open forum we invite participation from members of the academy, students, and members of the general public to take stock of the state of Asian Studies and to ask: Does Asian Studies have a future in Australian universities?

Speakers:

Professor Edward Aspinall, Australian National University, President, ASAA.
Associate Professor Melissa Crouch, University of New South Wales, Secretary ASAA.
Professor Kanishka Jayasuriya, Murdoch University.

Date: 27 November, 2020

Time: 2-4pm AEDT, 1pm-3pm AEST, 11am -1pm WST

Registration via the link:

https://anu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0kcOyoqDsjGdThjXKUvD-zmZEGmClZWFui