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April 6th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
The Federal Government has released the guidelines for a program to support an extra 3,500 Australian students studying in Asia.
The program was announced last year as part of the Asian Century white paper, and $37 million has already been allocated for it.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Trade Minister Craig Emerson used their visit to the Bo’ao Forum in China to announce that universities are now able to nominate eligible students for places.
The announcement came as the Government fended off Opposition claims it has neglected the relationship with China.
Ms Gillard says the AsiaBound program will dwarf the iconic Colombo plan.
“Under the Colombo plan 20,000 people had the opportunity to study in Australia over 35 years,” she said at a press conference on the sidelines of the forum.
“Under the program we operate today, 20,000 people from around the world will have the opportunity to study in Australia in 5 years, and 12,000 of those will be from our region in the world.
“What we do today dwarfs in size and scale the work that was done under the Colombo plan.”
Ms Gillard says Australia will continue to support students from Asia coming to study in Australia.
“It is one of the best ways of strengthening contact between nations of our region and Australia,” she said.
“There is much said about the former Colombo plan which in its age was an important initiative to build bridges between the people of Asia and Australia.”
Dr Emerson says the AsiaBound program will invest in the talents of young Australians.
There is much said about the former Colombo plan which in its age was an important initiative to build bridges between the people of Asia and Australia
“We want to ensure that more Australian students study in Asia and more students from the region study in Australia, thereby creating not just two ambassadors – an ambassador of China to Australia and an ambassador of Australia to China – but literally thousands of ambassadors,” he said.
“We’re very proud to announce that from today applications are open, the guidelines have been issued.
“From 1 July under this new AsiaBound program, young people will be able to travel under the program from Australia to Asia to do short courses, to do semester courses.”
Dr Emerson says there will be adequate financial assistance for students seeking to study in Asia.
‘Sophisticated understanding’
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop, who is also attending the forum, says Ms Gillard’s visit to China is long overdue, and she has repair work to do.
“The fact that the Prime Minister had only dropped in to China once until now, on the eve of an election, [is] clearly playing to a domestic audience in Australia rather than showing a commitment to a long-term engagement with the senior Chinese leadership,” she said.
Former federal treasurer Peter Costello also criticised the transparency of Australia’s foreign investment system.
“These rules are not clear at the moment,” he said.
The Federal opposition has also criticised the Government for not completing the discussions which started eight years ago.
Ms Gillard says the seriousness of her government’s approach to China is demonstrated in her visit to China so soon after its leadership transition and rejected suggestions the foreign investment rules were opaque.
“For 10 years not one proposal for investment by China has been declined,” she said.
“We continue in those [free trade agreement] discussions to bring a sophisticated understanding to Australia’s economy and to its future as opposed to sort of simple talk, you know, the kind of economic simpleton talk that we’ve seen from the other side of politics.”
New guidelines
The Government has also unveiled an education training initiative to keep business people out of trouble when operating in China.
The Federal Government says it is releasing new guidelines to warn businesses of the potential risks of investing in the country.
Several Australian businessmen have recently been jailed in China – and Ms Gillard has indicated she will raise their consular cases when she meets the new Chinese premier on Tuesday.
But Dr Emerson says the Federal Government is also designing a program to better education potential Australian investors about working in China.
“And it is designed to alert people to the processes that they need to follow in terms of doing investment in China, the potential risks of doing that, of course the rewards speak for themselves, and ways of mitigating those risks,” he said.
It is designed to alert people to the processes that they need to follow in terms of doing investment in China [and] the potential risks of doing that
Ms Gillard has met with the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, and her New Zealand counterpart John Key on the sidelines of the forum.
It is understood Ms Lagarde commended Australia’s economic performance, and she described Australia’s economic figures as enviable.
Ms Gillard says they also discussed developments in the global economy and the work that still needs to be done to restore financial stability in Europe.
“We also noted the signs in the global economy, particularly some signs of strengthening in the US economy and the fact that the IMF has lifted its outlook for China and has a very positive outlook for growth in the Asian economies,” Ms Gillard said.
The Government’s rip to the Bo’ao Forum is designed to boost trade links between Australia and its largest trading partner.
Topics:
education,
university-and-further-education,
government-and-politics,
federal-government,
china,
asia,
australia
First posted
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-06/gillard-announces-asia-student-exchange-plan/4613824
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