Perceptions that the University of Adelaide¡¯s new boss is too close to China stem from a time when the whole of Australia was trying to get closer to China, he said.

Peter H?j, who has been appointed Adelaide vice-chancellor after leading the University of Queensland (UQ) for eight years, arrives with baggage from Beijing ¨C largely because of the five years he served as an unpaid consultant to the headquarters of China¡¯s Confucius Institutes, Hanban.

Professor H?j denied any impropriety in advising the agency, which runs more than a dozen Australian institutes. ¡°Why would it not be in Australia¡¯s interests to have somebody at the governing table?¡± he said.

¡°You have to engage to influence. Everything we did at UQ has to been seen through the prism of what was in Australia¡¯s best interests.¡±

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Professor H?j joined Hanban in 2013, a year after the federal government¡¯s Australia in the Asian Century White Paper entreated educational institutions to help in ¡°nurturing deeper and broader relationships¡± with China and the region. A year later, Chinese president Xi Jinping¡¯s address to a joint sitting of Australia¡¯s parliament coincided with the unveiling of a free trade agreement between the two nations.

Professor H?j said he had told the foreign minister¡¯s office of his work with Hanban, and had been encouraged to continue, at a time when the bilateral relationship was warmer. ¡°As soon as Australia indicated that there was a change in the geopolitical arena, I resigned from Hanban. You can¡¯t judge somebody¡¯s activity against a situation that was prevailing then when it¡¯s not prevailing now,¡± he said.

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Professor H?j officially?starts his new role on 8 February, three years to the day since the arrival of predecessor Peter Rathjen, who resigned last year over a sex scandal. The circumstances are not unlike his initiation at Queensland, where predecessor Paul Greenfield had quit over a student admission scandal.

Professor H?j said there was ¡°advantage in having travelled the journey¡± when taking the helm of a troubled organisation. While some staff would be too absorbed in their research or teaching to worry about last year¡¯s leadership crisis, he said, others would look for reassurance that the institution had ¡°taken note¡±.

¡°My approach in situations like this is to use my ears and my mouth in proportion. People are different and you¡¯ve got to have a degree of emotional intelligence. The most important thing is to be able to listen and react differentially to individuals¡¯ needs,¡± he said.

The new vice-chancellor said he was as surprised as anybody when newspaper reports surfaced last July suggesting that he was favoured to take over at Adelaide. ¡°This notion that I was frontrunner for a job I didn¡¯t know I was going to apply for¡± may have been floated by former colleagues who wanted a strong hand back, he said.

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¡°I¡¯m not Mr Fix-it, [but] I¡¯ve left places better than I found them. Clearly, it could be part of my r¨¦sum¨¦ that I¡¯m able to move things on when they¡¯ve taken a wrong turn,¡± Professor H?j said.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com