Rather than inflicting Chinese doctrine on local students, Australia¡¯s oldest Confucius Institute says it is educating its Chinese staff in the ways of their hosts.

Maggie Jiang, director of the University of Western Australia¡¯s Confucius Institute, said she had conducted Australian cultural training internally after her Chinese staff grew infuriated at local media portrayals of their homeland.

¡°Nationalism is rising [and] we face the consequences of it,¡± Dr Jiang told the Australian International Education Conference in Perth. ¡°[It] is very important¡­to encourage cross-cultural engagement in our international education practice; to embrace different perspectives, voices [and] opinions.¡±

Dr Jiang said she encouraged newly arrived staff to download media apps, such as the public broadcaster ABC¡¯s radio station, to boost their understanding of their host country. But the coverage left some staff ¡°really angry¡± about the representation of China in Western media.

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In a pilot professional development course, the institute explored ¡°the different role of media in different belief systems¡±, and helped staff understand that negative news was ¡°normal¡± in Australia and they should approach it from a ¡°less sentimental perspective¡±.

The workshop explored how Western campuses also permitted student activism, such as a Hong Kong independence protest at the University of Queensland?that loyalist mainland students tried to drown out. ¡°Singing the national anthem to cover the other side¡¯s voice is probably not the best democratic practice,¡± Dr Jiang observed.

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¡°To be able to embrace different voices [and] understand that protest is allowed in a democratic country, and how you express your opinion and engage in a productive dialogue ¨C [all this] is very important.¡±

The staff heard that it was not unexpected for a large, rising economy with a different political system to generate concern in Western societies. ¡°Understanding the concern as a normal thing is very important for the Chinese perspective,¡± Dr Jiang said.

¡°Australia is the only country in this world which attends both the Eurovision Song Contest and Asian Football Confederation. In a country like this, of course we¡¯d have some concerns about a rising China.¡±

She advocated cross-cultural training for visiting students as well as staff, not just from China. Many foreigners encountering Australian campuses for the first time were confronted by what they observed around ¡°touchpoint¡± racial, sexual, religious and political issues.

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Dr Jiang said her institute attracted media queries about its influence on university curricula on an almost weekly basis. ¡°We don¡¯t teach on campus at all,¡± she protested. ¡°Even the local schools we work with design their curriculum and teaching material. We only provide teaching support.

¡°We welcome journalists to come to our campus, sit in our classrooms [and] see what we teach. The frustrating thing is [that] our message doesn¡¯t get out. Journalists [are] not picking up what we¡¯re saying.¡±

She sidestepped a question over why Confucius Institutes did not defuse the criticism by operating at arm¡¯s length from universities, as do other language and cultural education organisations?such as?the Goethe-Institut, Alliance Fran?aise and Instituto Cervantes. ¡°Confucius Institutes really deserve a better perception,¡± she insisted.

¡°Some media talk about influence on universities¡¯ curricula. What is their evidence? We¡¯re not teaching on campus; we don¡¯t even work with university degrees here. To me, media are looking for things that support their own presumptions.¡±

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com