Chinese students in Australia: A critical examination of recent media coverage

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James Laurenceson, Deputy Director, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney

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Executive Summary

There are currently 131,355 Chinese citizens studying at more than 30 Australian universities. This year the economic and cultural contributions these students make to Australian society have been overshadowed by media coverage of protests directed at Australian academics. To date there have been four reported incidents involving Chinese students, at Monash University, the Australian National University, the University of Sydney and the University of Newcastle respectively. 

This report critically examines media coverage of these incidents. There appears to be a sizeable gap between the dominant media narrative being presented and the quality of evidence being supplied to support it. 

Author

James Laurenceson, Deputy Director, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney.