Introduction of South China Center for Australian Studies

The South China Center for Australian Studies was established in March 2016 to facilitate deepened studies of Australia and to promote academic, cultural and educational exchanges between Australia and South China. Central to this mission is to help bring in Australian perspectives as well as to present our own, and to share information and knowledge among academics and practitioners between the two countries.
 
The unique advantage of the Center lies in the academic strengths and cultural diversity of its members, comprised of Chinese and Australian nationals, practitioners and multi-disciplinary academics, supported by over 10 faculty staff coming from different parts of the world and from Taiwan and Hong Kong working side by side with their local Chinese counterparts, many of them having a doctoral degree. Consequently, the Center has rapidly emerged as one of the leaders in Australian studies in China, outperforming many of its peers that mainly rely on monodisciplinary academics specializing either in English language or English literature. Over the past two years, the Center has collaborated with its Australian partners in hosting a series of cultural and educational events staring Australian artists such as Change, Equipment and On-site Performing Arts by an Australian artist group headed by Peter Knight, and The Story Only I can Tell by William Young. At the 4 ^th BHP English Speech Contest held in Beijing Foreign Language University in 2016, the representative from the Center won the “Award for the Best Organization”. In March 2018, the Center hosted a forum in celebration of the academic achievements made by Michael Halliday, a prominent Australian scholar who developed the internationally influential Systemic Functional Linguistics. Over 100 participants, including 21 leading researchers in the field from across China attended and many of them spoke at the forum.
 
Also critical to the successful achievement of the Center’s objectives is the collaborative relationship that has been built and sustained with Australian education institutions. Currently, the Center has worked with the School of Foreign Languages, Nanfang College of Sun Yat-sen University in running the IPMP (International Pre-Master Programme) and IFC (International Foundation Certificate) programs, helping prepare potential students to undertake their undergraduate and post-graduate degree studies at universities in Australia, the UK and the US. As of this month, over 10 students have been admitted to top Australian universities including University of Sydney, University of Melbourne and Monash University. In the years ahead, the ties between the Center and Australian universities are expected to be further strengthened.
 
As a newly-established organization, the Center still has a long way to go in order to accomplish its strategic objectives. Greater efforts therefore will be made to strengthen the cooperative relationship with our domestic peers and our partners/potential partners in Australia.