On May 12th, the launch ceremony of the Australian Studies Centre at Northeastern University was held in the great hall of the first floor in HanQing Hall. The acting cultural counsellor of Australian Embassy in China Jennifer Mason, member of Australia-China Council professor David Walker, professor Karen Walker from Monash University in Australia, chairman of China Australia Research Institute HanFeng, member of China Australia Research Institute Liyao, and responsible Officers from International Cooperation and Exchange Department and foreign language college of Northeastern University are presented. More than 100 teachers and students from foreign language attended the ceremony.
The Australian Studies Centre at Northeastern University was the 32th Australian Studies Centre in Chinese mainland. The center will rely on the subjects’ advantages of NEU to promote the cooperation among NEU, universities and scientific groups in Australia, especially in the fields of mining, information and material. Meanwhile, excellent scholars from NEU are welcomed to join the center to increase scientific research power.
The Centre is an academic and interdisciplinary institute for the study of Australian politics, international relations, economics, society, culture, literature and language. The objective of the Centre is to strengthen the China-Australia understanding and relations by advancing Australian Studies at NEU and beyond. To this end, the Centre supports a range of initiatives including hosting the BHP Billiton Chair of Australian Studies at NEU, administering Australian Studies courses, supervising doctoral students in Australian Studies, organizing conferences and roundtables, operating an Internship Program, and many other events in collaboration with Chinese and Australian partners.
The cooperation between China and Australia has a long history. Since the 1980s, Northeastern University had begun to conclude and sign a series of cooperation agreements with scientific research institutions and universities such as University of Queensland, University of Canberra and University of Wollongong. Alumnus of NEU concluding LuGaoqing,DouShixue and YuAibing were selected as academicians of Austrialian Academy of Engineering, which not only made contribution to Australia, but also constructed an effective platform for communication between China and Australia.
