Update to Australia’s foreign interference guidelines for universities could fuel prejudice against Chinese, academics warn
- Changes to guidelines introduced amid heightened scrutiny of Chinese influence on campus may include training students to recognise and report foreign meddling
- ‘Reds under the bed’ tone is overkill that could lead to more self-censorship by Chinese students as well as fuel anti-Asian prejudice, academics say
The Australian government and universities are working to update anti-foreign interference guidelines that were introduced in 2019 amid heightened scrutiny of Chinese influence on university campuses.
Although the updated guidelines have not been finalised, draft proposals reportedly include measures such as training students to recognise foreign meddling and report it to the appropriate authorities.
Nick Bisley, dean and head of the School of Humanities and Social Science at La Trobe University in Melbourne, said he and many of his peers were concerned the government was overreaching in its efforts to tackle foreign interference.
“My initial impression is that is symptomatic of the disproportionate response the federal government has had to foreign interference using very large and cumbersome sledgehammers for what are ultimately very small nails,” Bisley said.
“The ‘reds under the bed’ tone about things gives it a somewhat surreal air, but the sad reality is like the other things that have come before, it places a huge and unwieldy regulatory cost on universities at a time when our budgets are already stretched to breaking point by the Covid pandemic.”
