NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes has issued a stunning call-to-arms to save universities from what he sees as the twin threats of international students and “anti-Semitic” left-wing activists.
In a speech taking aim at administrators, staff and students alike, Mr Stokes warns universities are financially over-exposed to international students, and says the skyrocketing number of foreign students on campuses is causing universities to compromise their academic independence.
While Mr Stokes does not explicitly name China in the speech, he notes the international student boom comes from Asia and that the countries involved have “divergent views” on freedom and the right to protest.
“There is nothing inherently wrong with international students on campus vocally supporting their home nation’s interests,” the minister will tell the Centre for Independent Studies on Monday.
“But when academics who criticise certain countries are hauled before senior diplomats to explain themselves, or when universities self-censor by using teaching materials that conform with foreign government propaganda so as to not upset international student cohorts, we have a duty as educators to speak out.
“But we are increasingly finding ourselves in a situation where any type of constructive criticism of these countries within universities is met with howls of outrage from student bodies that are funded by and affiliated with foreign governments.”
International students are coming to Australia in record numbers, making education the country’s third largest export. In Sydney, enrolments surged by 50 per cent more in the past two years than in the preceding decade, and income from the lucrative students accounts for a quarter of all university revenue in NSW.
Read the article by Michael Koziol, the immigration and legal affairs reporter for The Age and SMH, in The Sydney Morning Herald.