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Amid growing military tensions with Beijing, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra, a key academic partner for the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA), has moved to restrict research collaborations with China, including ending visits from Chinese academics to its Canberra campus, ABC News reported.
An internal message sent to UNSW Canberra's academic schools advises that the university will no longer take the lead for projects involving Chinese universities. Several postgraduate courses offered at UNSW Canberra are linked to the ADF, including the Master of Explosive Ordnance, taught to defence staff at Australia's new Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise. In recent weeks, UNSW Canberra informed its staff that "collaborative research projects involving academics affiliated with Chinese universities will not be supported." However, UNSW Sydney is not affected by this decision, reported ABC News. ABC News reported that the university, which remains one of the ADF's primary tertiary education providers, still offers lucrative PhD scholarships to Dongguan University in Guangdong province. Since the 1980s, UNSW has provided academic education to officer and midshipman cadets at ADFA in Canberra, as well as, postgraduate programs for Defence civilians and other students. Until recently, a significant portion of the international students at UNSW Canberra were from China, ABC News reported. In a statement to the ABC, UNSW Canberra emphasised that any university-level collaborations with countries or institutions considered high-risk are "thoroughly risk-managed" through various government agencies. The university stressed its commitment to security and compliance, noting that UNSW Canberra's unique position within the Australian Defence Force Academy necessitates stringent oversight, ABC News reported. Moreover, ABC News report said that shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson welcomed UNSW Canberra's recent decision but urged the institution to further scrutinise its staff. Paterson called for the removal of any academics with ties to the Chinese government, particularly those with access to the next generation of ADF officers, ABC News reported. "Three years on from the intelligence committee's inquiry into national security risks in higher education, we still have much more work to do," ABC News quoted Senator Paterson. "Of all our universities, UNSW's campus at ADFA should be the most secure -- it's where our future defence force leaders are trained. No academic with ties to the Chinese government should be employed there with access to the next generation of ADF officers," ABC News quoted Senator Paterson. This move follows concerns raised last year by Australian universities regarding the relaxation of defence export rules for AUKUS partner nations, ABC News stated. The changes warned of strict new penalties for unauthorized collaborations with researchers outside the US or UK, further complicating international academic relations, ABC News stated. (ANI)
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