Six Australian universities have closed the Confucius Institutes on their campuses.
Experts say this is not surprising as there have been long-standing concerns about the institutions in Australia.
But what are the institutes, and will more universities follow suit?
Here is what we know.
What are Confucius Institutes?
Confucius Institutes are named after Confucius, also known as Kongzi, a philosopher and one of the most significant figures in Chinese culture, who died in the fifth century BC.
Launched in 2004, the institutes’ official website describes them as non-profit educational institutions funded by the Chinese government, with the aim of promoting Chinese language and culture.
In mid-2020, the Chinese government founded a new non-governmental organisation, the Chinese International Education Foundation (CLEF), to run the Confucius Institutes.
As of the end of 2023, 498 Confucius Institutes and 773 Confucius Classrooms — normally located in primary and secondary schools — had been set up in over 160 countries and regions, according to the CLEF.
How does it work?
In Australia, Confucius Institutes are usually hosted on Australian university campuses through a five-year partnership with Chinese universities.
To set up an institute, the Australian university needs to partner with a Chinese university and submit a joint application to the Centre for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC), which is affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education.
According to the Conversation, schools that host a Confucius Classroom receive up-front funding of $10,000, as well as books and other materials to the value of about $10,000 each year.
What are the criticisms of Confucius Institutes?
The federal government ramped up scrutiny of Confucius Institutes in 2023, signalling that it would not allow any more of them to open their doors in Australia, amid fears over their links to the Chinese government.
Universities were told to provide more information about the centres and — in some cases — register them on the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme.
One of the main concerns about Confucius Institutes stemmed from their close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, said Dr Si-yuan Li, a lecturer in International Studies at Northwest University in China.
In recent research published in the Pacific Review, Dr Li said there had been allegations that Confucius Institutes served as tools for Chinese propaganda, “advancing the [Chinese] government’s political agendas on controversial issues such as Taiwan, human rights in China and Tibet”.
“Critics also argued that the CIs [Confucius Institutes] are extensions of the Chinese state, potentially increasing the risks of espionage or the collection of sensitive information and even posing a threat of national security,” he said.
Partnerships with local universities were commonly perceived as potential threats to academic freedom, Dr Li added.
How will Australia be affected?
Six top Australian universities, including the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales, have decided not to renew their contracts to keep the program running.
Most Confucius Institutes offered the general public short-term Chinese language classes, including some targeted at particular audiences like businesspeople, Dr Jeffrey Gil from Flinders University, who studies Confucius Institutes, told the ABC.
“Such courses were suitable for people who couldn’t or didn’t want to commit to taking a university degree and for people who wanted to get a taste of learning Chinese,” Dr Gil said.
“Chinese will still be taught at schools and universities, but opportunities for casual language learning will decrease with the closure of Confucius Institutes.“
Dr Gil said opportunities for engagement with Chinese culture outside formal education would be reduced, as Confucius Institutes generally ran cultural activities and events that were open to the public
He also said teaching staff and teaching materials provided by Confucius Institutes to support some of Australian universities’ existing Chinese language courses would not be available any more.
What happens next?
Seven Confucius Institutes in Australia remain open.
They are at the University of Newcastle, the University of Sydney, the Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University, La Trobe University, Victoria University, and Charles Darwin University.
“It would not surprise me if more Australian universities decided not to continue hosting a Confucius Institute,” Dr Gil said.
“Confucius Institute closures are currently confined to Western countries (USA, Europe and Australia).
“They are not closing in Africa, the Middle East and South America, and new institutes are opening in some of these regions.
“This is because these regions have greater need of the resources and support available through Confucius Institutes, and there are generally more positive attitudes towards China in these regions.”
