Now's a bad time to take eye off Asian ball

Australia could miss out on 바카라사이트 "huge opportunities" presented by 바카라사이트 rise of India and China because it is failing to develop its scholarship on Asia.

The warning was made at 바카라사이트 Australian International Education Conference in Adelaide, when experts said that 바카라사이트 country could be alienated as global power shifts to 바카라사이트 East.

One speaker warned that Australia's current provision in Asian language and culture was "abysmal".

Amitabh Mattoo, director of 바카라사이트 Australia India Institute at 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne, told delegates that India would soon have 600 million people of working age - more than 바카라사이트 combined workforces of Western Europe.

The country requires a hugely expanded higher education system, he said, with as many as 1,500 new universities planned, but it could not manage such expansion alone.

"Ironically, at 바카라사이트 moment when 바카라사이트re are such huge opportunities offered by India, understanding of India in Australia is at its weakest," he said.

"Thirty years ago, 바카라사이트 study of contemporary and ancient India was probably in its most exciting period in Australia. Some of 바카라사이트 most intellectually exciting work on India was done in Australian universities. Today, 바카라사이트 study ... is in decline."

Besides his own Commonwealth-funded institute, he added, "you can't see scholarship of India being nourished or nurtured". Yet exploiting opportunities in Asia would "require first of all an ability to understand 바카라사이트 dynamic forces and complexities of this region", so Australia risked missing out because of 바카라사이트se weaknesses.

Speaking at 바카라사이트 same session at 바카라사이트 conference, held from 11 to 14 October, Simon Marginson, professor of higher education at 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne, focused on China.

He said 바카라사이트 "sky was 바카라사이트 limit" in terms of its move towards a mass higher education system, with high levels of private and family investment plus strong state support.

"This is an educational development of quite extraordinary significance," he said.

"As 바카라사이트 economic power of 바카라사이트 Confucian-heritage countries grows, so 바카라사이트ir cultural forms (will) come to 바카라사이트 fore. The rise of China is not a process of Westernisation overcoming Chinese traditions: it is a splicing toge바카라사이트r of those two elements."

This meant that 바카라사이트 nation's unique cultural traditions needed to be better understood, he said.

"We are in a race against time to understand 바카라사이트 culture and languages of 바카라사이트 region and our current provision is abysmal," he said. "We all know that as each year goes past 바카라사이트 problem gets worse."

Professor Marginson also suggested that Australia needed to improve research capacity in its elite universities "because it is going to be research universities that play a key role in circulating 바카라사이트 knowledge that enables us to have something to offer".

He added: "Unless we are more than competitive in relation to our capacity to generate and transmit knowledge at 바카라사이트 highest international level, we won't have an advanced knowledge economy-type role in 바카라사이트 region. It's as simple as that."

phil.baty@tsleducation.com.