The Parliament of Australia Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Inquiry into strengthening Australia’s relationships with countries in the Pacific region June 30, 2020 ANU Pacific Institute This parliamentary submission by The Australian National University (ANU) Pacific Institute is focussed on the role of the tertiary education sector in strengthening Australia’s relationships with countries in the Pacific region. The Pacific is a complex and diverse region1 of peoples, cultures, environments, challenges and opportunities. Its people are proud and protective of their unique heritage, resources and contributions. This ocean continent is home to 23 territories and states—including Australia. Advancing Australia’s engagement in the Pacific requires acknowledging, supporting, and empowering the knowledge base about the region. Australian universities are a key source of knowledge for both understanding Australia’s place in the Pacific region, and understanding how the Pacific sees itself in and working with Australia. The list of recommendations listed in this submission comes from contributions of educators, technical experts, and professionals from The Australian National University who research, teach and engage with partners from across the Pacific region. Our overall recommendation is that Australia should demonstrate its academic excellence and leadership by supporting its universities to work in partnership with, and alongside, Pacific Island countries to develop knowledge bases to pursue policy priorities and address critical environmental, security and development challenges. Australian universities have long been recognised as centres of excellence for postgraduate research and professional training concerning the Pacific. The need to train future generations of leaders, researchers and policy-makers both in Australia and in the region is now more critical than ever. Tertiary institutions in the Pacific continue to work with Australian universities, like ANU, to support the development of 1 The region includes Australia, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, East Timor, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, West Papua, Guam. 1 ANU Pacific Institute their staff and programs, through postgraduate training and teaching support, particularly in the areas of Pacific history, anthropology, linguistics, political science, economics, security, environmental and earth sciences, climate change, gender, law and development studies. We propose that the Australian Government’s higher education policy in relation to the Pacific should have the following aims: • To deepen our academic relationships with the Pacific through supporting our universities to serve as trusted partners and essential resources for all who work with the Pacific, and especially our partners from the Pacific. • To support and extend the current work of our world-leading universities for Pacific research, education, Higher Degree Research (HDR) training, policy and other public engagement. • To grow the number of researchers interested in the Pacific in Australian universities. • To raise the profile of Pacific scholarship in Australia by ensuring that the Australian public deepens their understanding of the Pacific and Australia’s place in the region. We expand on this below under three headings: 1. Teaching with the Pacific 2. Researching with the Pacific 3. Developing public engagement (community and societal impact) with the Pacific The ANU Pacific Institute The ANU has a long tradition of intensive engagement with the Pacific region. Since the establishment of The University in 1946, the Research School of Pacific Studies, now the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, has been the leading centre for Pacific Studies in Australia. The ANU Pacific Institute serves as a hub connecting and promoting Pacific Studies research, teaching and training at ANU. It celebrates the remarkable partnerships and engagements ANU staff and students have had with the peoples of the Pacific Islands over the past seven decades, and the ways these interactions have helped shape our collective understanding of the region. A leading centre for Pacific studies globally, the ANU currently hosts over 120 academic staff whose research interests encompass the broader Pacific, including 75 researchers whose work is largely or exclusively focused on the Pacific. While the 2 ANU Pacific Institute College of Asia and the Pacific is home to most of our Pacific expertise (75%) there are scholars engaged across the region in all seven colleges (faculties). Over the years, the Institute has promoted and sponsored seminars, workshops and conferences related to the Pacific, hosted visitors from the region, and helped coordinate the university’s outreach and engagement with various organisations, including education and research institutions and governments across the Pacific Islands. The Institute recently hosted the President of Marshall Islands, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu – as well as officials, activists, academics and students from the Pacific. ANU academics have an extensive network of partners in the region and across the globe, in tertiary institutions, government, development organisations, industry and NGOs. Focused in large part in the western Pacific, ANU has a long tradition of deep engagement with the Pacific and has played a leading role in seeding and developing research and tertiary institutions throughout the region. It is a global leader in teaching and research in the Pacific because of our partnerships and over 60 years of relationships in the Pacific, in Australia and institutions across the globe. 1. Teaching with the Pacific As centres of knowledge translation and transfer, universities have a responsibility to educate students from Australia and the Pacific to better understand and appreciate the region. Furthermore, universities need to inform the Australian public in regard to understanding Australia’s role and identity in the Pacific, as well as about Pacific peoples and identities from the region and communities in Australia. Some specific recommendations to provide pathways forward include: - Provide opportunities for Australian universities and Pacific Island university students to learn together through student mobility courses and online programs, - Establish Pacific-focused programs in Australian universities and high schools, taking the ANU Bachelor of Pacific Studies degree (the only such program in Australia) as an example, - Encourage the development of Pacific content in existing courses in order to continue educating Australian domestic and international students about the Pacific, - Provide support to offer Pacific languages in universities (e.g. Tok Pisin, Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Maori amongst others) as they represent major languages of the region, and of the Pacific diaspora in Australia, - Provide dedicated support and pathways for Pacific peoples and communities in Australia to access and study in universities in Australia as well universities in the Pacific, - Continue to support and enhance student mobility opportunities such as the New Colombo Plan and the Australian Awards scholarship scheme, noting building demand is as important as supply, 3 ANU Pacific Institute - Explore further creative options to bring exchange students from the Pacific to Australia for 1-3 months, - Explore options for joint courses (including student mobility and online) with Pacific universities, that allow both students from Australian and Pacific universities. We support fee waivers or additional support to Pacific students to undetake mobility or online courses, - Increase the proportion of PhD and Masters students who are co- supervised with Pacific universities, - Provide dedicated scholarship opportunities for staff from regional institutions, regional agencies and partner governments in areas of critical concern across Australian universities, - Facilitate internships in the Pacific and with Australian institutions that support Pacific scholarship and communities, - Develop programs to encourage tailored workshops and executive education courses in the Pacific in areas of mutual interest, - Support faculty exchange between Pacific universities and universities in Australia, - Increase the number of Pacific peoples on staff in universities in Australia, - Provide fee waiver scholarships to staff from regional institutions, regional agencies and partner governments where a local organisation provides a scholarship or stipend to their staff, - Noting the lack of pathways to higher education in Australia – and that many who are currently lecturing/tutoring in the region cannot gain direct entry to a PhD program - make MPhil scholarships available, so recipients remain eligible for PhD Scholarship opportunities down the track. 2. Researching with the Pacific As centres of knowledge production, universities have a responsibility to question, explore and document critical knowledge gaps in understanding the Pacific. Through critical questioning, rigorous ethics, and acknowledgement of Indigenous knowledge production, Australian universities should be encouraged to study and partner with universities from the region. Key regional partnerships enable us to extend our reach, set innovative independent research agendas, co-create and conduct large- scale and often sensitive research, and deliver education