Australia yesterday announced measures to combat foreign interference at its universities, setting new guidelines around the key areas of research collaboration, cybersecurity and international partnerships.
There has been growing concern about China’s clout on campuses following a series of hacks, controversial donations and incidents of political intimidation linked to Beijing.
The new guidelines push universities to enhance their cybersecurity systems, undertake due diligence before signing partnerships with overseas organizations and train staff to recognize foreign influence attempts.
Academics are urged to be wary of sharing knowledge on sensitive topics and discern how joint research with international colleagues could potentially be misused.
Australian Minister of Education Dan Tehan said the guidelines were designed to “ensure universities understand the risks and know what steps to take to protect themselves.”
The move comes after Australia in August established a task force to help protect sensitive research, cyberdefences and free speech.
Schools and government officials — including spy agencies — have also committed to more intensive consultation to protect Australia’s national interests.
The changes follow a data breach at the Australian National University last year that exposed sensitive staff and student data going back two decades.
The nation’s universities have also taken tens of millions of dollars from Beijing to establish Confucius Institutes that steer clear of issues damaging to the Chinese Communist Party.
They have resisted calls to register the institutes under new foreign interference laws.
Beijing denies interfering in campus life and has previously called the accusations “completely baseless.”
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology vice chancellor Martin Bean, who worked on developing the new guidelines, said they would “assist decisionmakers in continuing to assess the evolving risks from foreign interference.”
Deborah Terry, chair of lobby group Universities Australia, said that institutions of higher education had worked closely with the Australian government throughout the process.
“Our shared aim is to build on existing protections against foreign interference, without damaging the openness and global engagement that are essential to Australia’s success,” Terry said.
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