Foreign Influence on Campus. Can We Prevent It?

In August the Australian Government announced that it would investigate the extent of foreign influence and interference on Australian tertiary institutions. Sometimes it is easy to draw a line on where foreign influence becomes interference. But not always.

A 2019 protest against Chinese government interference in Australian Universities – AAP/Dave hunt, 2019. Source: Photo by AAP/Dave Hunt, 2019.

Fear about undue foreign influence on campus are is not limited to Australia.  Most of the concerns are about Chinese threats to campus security across a range of areas.  Fadhila Inas Pratiwi, a lecturer in International Relations, at Airlangga University in Surabaya, explains the emergence of those fears and how institutions can reduce risks.

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Andrew Hastie, the chairman of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, said an inquiry should investigate foreign interference. Source: Photograph by Lukas Coch/AAP - 27 Aug 2020.