Echoing many previous Australian reports on the issue (one of which won a recent journalism prize), today’s Australian carries an article headlined Students turn away from Asia.
In today’s report, a number of distinguished Australian scholars of Asia are quoted responding to former World Bank president James Wolfensohn’s assertion that “our young people are really not putting the effort in to understand, learn and provide bridges to India and China”.
The Australian continues:
Robin Jeffrey, director of the research school of Pacific and Asian studies at the Australian National University, said Mr Wolfensohn was “absolutely right”.
“In 1989, 15 of Australia’s 19 universities taught some subjects about India,” Professor Jeffrey said. “Today, only about five of 37 do. Hindi-Urdu, the second-largest spoken language in the world (after Mandarin), hangs on by its fingernails at ANU and through a distance-education program at La Trobe.”
Another senior contributor to this debate, Professor Robert Elson, from the University of Queensland, said, “Whereas 10 years ago Asian studies was quite a rigorous activity, now it is in decline everywhere, with the possible exception of the Australian National University.”
Reports of the decline of Asian Studies seem to have been a staple in the Australia press for as long as I have been reading newspapers. Current university funding models do make it difficult to sustain programs in Asian languages and related social sciences. Mainland Southeast Asia, New Mandala’s field of direct interest, is peripheral, at best, in almost all social science programs across the country. The ANU is an exception to this rule.
A rigorous and lengthy analysis of the state of Asian Studies in Australia, and proposals for reform, was published years ago. That report is still worth reading closely. That Australia’s cadre of University educated Asian Studies scholars and practitioners has been so seriously depleted is certainly worrying. But this is not the only issue of concern.
What is often overlooked is that many young Australians do not see the current style of Asian Studies offerings as serious vocational options. They also grow up in a system where political and social leaders rarely send the message to young people that Australia’s interests and future prospects are intimately tied to effectively understanding Asia. And even when, say, Alexander Downer stands up and talks about Asia – does anybody get inspired? Or feel the urge to follow his lead? What lead? And why is it that at a time when young Australians are increasingly internationalist in outlook – Asian Studies (at school and university) remains largely off the popular radar?
This is paradoxical because engagement with Asia, across the length and breadth of Australian life, has galloped along at the same time as Universities have been encouraged to cordon off their Asia offerings making them a niche – for specialists only.
I remember a time when the message going out to young Australians was that Asia, and Southeast Asia, in particular, should really matter to everybody and was deserving of inclusion in the Australian school curriculum. This message came from the top. The message has been muted by years of indifference and neglect. Good ideas for better engaging with Asia will flounder without developing new generations of Australians to take up the challenges.
Any of the young Australians reading New Mandala who have recently taken courses in Asian Studies could certainly add to this debate. It would be great to get your ideas and perspectives up on New Mandala. Why did you choose to study Asia? Do you sense “the decline” in the subject? Are you optimistic about the future? Does Asian Studies need to be revived? What messages need to be sent to young people and their schools?
This is just a start.
Many other questions and issues need to be canvassed. Hopefully, getting serious about studying Asia will be a national priority again sometime soon. In the meantime, putting good policy proposals in place is a big job for Australia’s Asia scholars and anybody else with an interest in Australia’s Asia education.
Special thanks to emerging part-time Southeast Asia specialist David Knezevic for drawing my attention to The Australian’s article.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Bangkok Pundit // Nov 30, 2006 at 2:29 am
Nick:
For me the answer to why Asian Studies is on the decline is simple.There are less students studying Asian studies. Why are there less students? Primarily, employers don’t really care or reward students who speak an Asian language.
In my experience and in talking to friends, many employers, particularly the government, are not rewarding students for their language skills.* Look at most job applications, you struggle to find a place to put your language skills, it is not usually an assessable selection criteria. Many friends also rarely have any opportunity to use the language they studied in their job. Now, if you are up against a candidate who doesn’t have any language skills, you will likely get the job, but how much extra money will you get for those 2-3 years of study learning the language?
* This is not universal as I know I got one job primarily because of my language skills.
2 Michele L // Nov 30, 2006 at 12:53 pm
I started studying Thai language at ANU in 2006. Six first-year students enrolled in the second semester course. It must be just enough students to keep the faculty afloat.
As Nick has pointed out, the link between job prospects and Asian lanagues is not strongly emphasised within many professions. Especially if one wishes to remain in Australia.
The link between development studies (the focus of my studies) and Asian languages is a little clearer than between many other career paths. Maybe the development studies courses, however, could do more to promote language studies/Asian studies as a component of their courses?
3 Jon Fernquest // Nov 30, 2006 at 9:47 pm
IMHO Southeast Asia areas studies **research will only achieve depth, if resources are pooled** across countries and across universities within a country.
Assuming that making research contributions to knowledge requires mentoring, and is not not just an “independent” study, there are simply not enough paid scholars around the world, much less in one country or locality, to mentor research.
Luckily, the world wide web nowadays provides a platform for publishing online specialised research journals. The use of referees and peer review for journal articles is also a lot easier. A good example of this is Michael Charney’s SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research at the University of London:
http://web.soas.ac.uk/burma/bulletin.htm
This journal has given me the opportunity to publish refereed articles on early modern Burmese history where there would otherwise have been no opportunities.
4 Republican // Dec 2, 2006 at 4:45 pm
I’m not so sure that the way out of this latest manifestation of an old problem is to once again go through the familiar humiliating routine of begging for government support. Surely what Australian universities need least right now is yet more government control of curricula and research agendas.
5 Studying up for an Asian future // Nov 3, 2008 at 4:36 pm
[...] in 2006, I wrote a piece examining the issue of “Asia-literacy” that attempted to draw out the reasons for [...]
6 jeplang // Nov 11, 2008 at 1:25 am
Why,oh why ,do academics believe that the only way anyone can gain “asia -literacy” -whatever that means- is by enrolling in one of their courses.Do any of these academic Asian scholars have any idea what is being taught on Asia outside academia?
In Darwin ,the Casuarina Secondary College use to run a Thai language course for beginners,and if my memory serves me right, there was also an intermediate Thai language course.
Again in Darwin, many years ago I enrolled in a Mandarin course conducted by the Chung Wah Society but I withdrew because the other mature age Australian student were far,far,more proficient in the language than poor old beginner me.
And what about all those Australian who have taught English as a second language in Asia? Have they nothing from their experiences?
And all those Australians who travel to South-east Asia ? And all those Australians married to Asians?
Come on academics ,broaden you ideas on what is meant by “education”.
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