Established in 1993, AustralianStudies Centre of Jiangsu Normal University focuses on the Australian academicresearch and cultural exchanges. Director of the centre is Professor Qiusheng Zhang,vice-chairman of Society of Australian Studies inChina and vicepresident of Jiangsu Research Base of Overseas Chinese Affairs under OverseasChinese Affairs Office. He has visited Australian universities and institutes foracademic affairs several times. In June 2013, Australian Studies Centre ofJiangsu Normal University was accredited as the Base of international studies byJiangsu Provincial Department of Education.
The studies center has 24research fellows (including part-time fellows), 10 professors (or researchfellows), 10 associate professors and 18 doctors. They are engaged in the studiesof Australian politics, diplomacy, immigration policy and Chinese overseas. Theresearch team also works on the study of world history which is a key provincialdiscipline at JSNU. Most of them have the experience of Study abroad and arefamiliar with the frontier topics. Meanwhile, domestic and international renownedprofessors are invited to work as part-time researchers and academicadvisors, including Yafei He, deputy director of Overseas Chinese AffairsOffice (former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) of the StateCouncil; Professor Feng Han, Chairman of Society of Australian Studies in China and deputy director of Institute ofAsia-Pacific Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Guotu Zhuang, a famousexpert in international studies, Dean of Research School For Southeast Asian Studies, Xiamen University. Our researches cover internationalrelations, history, international politics, law, economics, education,management and so on, which forms the Center’s comprehensive characteristics.
The Centre has undertaken nearly20 projects sponsored by national or provincial funds and international jointprojects after its establishment some 23 years ago. Its research fellows have published10 monographs and it successfully hosted the 9th International Conference ofAustralian Studies in China. More than 20 faculty members have visited theAustralian universities and institutes, stable relations were tied between theCentre and universities abroad. Since 2004, 15 undergraduates have been toAustralia sponsored by Australian government and Foundation for AustralianStudies in China for academic exchanges and researches.
The Centre now mainly focuseson three directions: Australia’s immigration policy and overseas Chinese;Sino-Australia relations, Australia’s politics and diplomacy; Australianeducation culture and Sino-Australia cooperation and communications. It is leadingthe studies on Australia’s immigration policy and overseas Chinese in China andabroad. Both Australian government and Australia-China Council sing highpraises for the Centre.
Committed to meeting thestrategic needs of national progress and social-economic development, the Centrehas undertaken several key projects, programs and forums of Overseas ChineseAffairs Office of the State Council, All-China Federation of Returned Overseasand State Ethnic Affairs Commission. The Centre also provides advice andconsultations for China’s departments in adjust policies of diplomacy, overseas Chinese affairs, migration and overseas study.
The Centre sticks to highlighting its features andstrength and seeks synchronous development among institutions of research,consultant and think-tank. It also actively conducts researches on the migrantpolicy that Australia implements on its Oceanic neighbors and BritishCommonwealth countries and researches on Chinese overseas and diplomaticrelations. Meanwhile, it studies not only the practical problems of overseas Chineseaffairs in Jiangsu, but also the hot spots of overseas Chinese affairs in thewhole country and the immigration problems.
