Six Australian universities discreetly closed the Chinese government linked the Confucius institutes (CI) to their campuses.
The Australian government has examined control in education centers in recent years for concerns Beijing has used them to spread the propaganda and the spy of Chinese international students.
China affirms that its Confucius institutes, which offer Chinese and cultural language lessons abroad, are a “bridge reinforcing friendship” with the world.
There have been increasing global concerns concerning the scope of the Chinese government abroad through such education centers, universities in America and Europe also choosing to close some of their branches.
These closures mean that almost half of all the Confucius institutes of Australian universities have been closed. Seven others remain open, according to a report by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Confucius centers have now been withdrawn from campuses from the University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland (UQ), the University of Australia-Western (UWA) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW), and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).
Several universities have cited the disruptions caused by the pandemic cochem as the reason for not renewing their CI contracts.
A spokesperson for the UNSW said that the University developed its own program in Chinese studies and is committed to “encouraging open dialogue in the bilateral relationship of China-Australia”.
In recent years, the Australian federal government has indicated that it would not allow more centers – which are linked to the Chinese Communist Party – to open in the country.
He also demanded that universities provide more transparency on the teachings of the institutes and, in some cases, register them on the transparency regime of foreign influence.
An UQ spokesperson said his Confucius institute closed when the contract expired in December 2024, and that he had “received no management by the government”.
The University of Melbourne closed its CI in August 2024 after its creation thanks to a partnership with Nanjing University in 2007.
The institution already offers a variety of Chinese language programs and Asia and had “no additional need to renew” the agreement, said a spokesperson.
A spokesperson for the University of Adélaide did not confirm that their IC had been closed, but said that it continued to promote “links with other countries, including China” through partnerships and collaboration on education.
Human Rights Watch said in a 2019 report that the Confucius institutes were “extensions of the Chinese government” which censored discussions on politically sensitive issues in Beijing.
In Australia, the ABC reported in 2019 that candidates for volunteer teaching positions in the institutes were required to demonstrate political loyalty to the Chinese government.
Dr. Jeffrey Gill of Flinders University, who studies Confucius institutes, said that he “was not surprised” by the last closures and that concerns about foreign interference were “likely to be a factor,” he told ABC.
However, Dr. Gill said he was not convinced that ICs were promoting “Chinese government propaganda” and had “a very little influence on China’s perceptions in Australia and in the Western world more widely”.
