Chinese students in limbo after ANU partnership axed over security fears

Authorities are “working through” what to do with students who came to Australia via a joint venture between the Australian National University and a top Chinese university, after Foreign Minister Penny Wong axed the partnership on national security grounds last week.

Under ANU’s Joint Science College with Shandong University, Chinese students would study for three years in China before a two-year stint in Canberra.

ANU’s sprawling Canberra campus is a recruitment and training ground for defence and intelligence agencies.

Senator Wong’s move to terminate the university-to-university arrangement, first reported by The Australian, came after the US added Shandong University to a blacklist of foreign institutions “engaging in problematic activities”.

Assistant Minister for International Education Julian Hill confirmed on Monday the Joint Science College was “determined to breach our national interest” and noted the US’s “change in assessment status”.

“It is in Australia’s national interest that we partner with overseas universities in search of knowledge,” Mr Hill told News24.

“There’s lots of knowledge we want to bring back to Australia to help our economy, help agriculture, help health and so on.

“But where we determine that an arrangement breaches our fundamental security interests, then we have the power to act.”

Hundreds of Chinese students have come to Australia through the Joint Science College since it launched in 2022, with the first cohort alone comprising 61 Shandong University students.

Asked if the students still in the country would be able to finish their degrees, Mr Hill said the government was “working through those issues with the institution”.

In a letter to ANU reported by The Australian, Senator Wong said the university “must terminate the foreign arrangement for force majeure to the extent that it is legally binding under Chinese law by 18 January 2027”.

Originally published as Chinese students in limbo after ANU partnership axed over security fears