November 14, 2025
Inquiry into Building Asia Capability in Australia – IRU Response
Context
The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) and its members have a long and proud history of engagement with the Indo–Pacific and we welcome the Government’s inquiry into building Australia’s Asia capability.
The inquiry aims to identify reforms that may support Australia’s Asia capability, including structural reforms and barriers to its development, best practice models, the current state of Asian language and culture education, opportunities for promotion of Asian cultural literacy, and expectations of government coordination and collaboration.
IRU members have been engaging with Asia since the 1960s (when our universities were first established). This began with the arrival of Colombo Plan scholars, and was followed by Australia’s first undergraduate programs in Asian studies (Griffith University’s Bachelor of Asian Studies in 1975, Murdoch University’s Southeast Asian Studies in 1975, and Flinders University’s Asian Studies in 1976) and the early formation of Asia–Pacific research centres in the 1990s. These centres—still going strong today—include the Griffith Asia Institute, La Trobe Asia, The Cairns Institute at James Cook University, and Murdoch University’s Indo–Pacific Research Centre.
We recognise that Asia capability is part of a wider regional focus that stretches from the countries of South Asia to the Pacific, as recognised by multiple government departments including DFAT and Defence. The IRU identifies engagement with the Indo–Pacific region as a key priority in its 2022–27 strategy, reflecting its shared focus for our members.
As a group, we have engaged in joint initiatives in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Pacific Island states to scale up our engagement with the region beyond what any one university can do on its own. Our universities have been active participants in government-supported student mobility initiatives including AsiaBound and the New Colombo Plan (NCP), establishing the IRU Scholars In Asia initiative in 2013 that aimed to increase the number of students engaging with Asia through consortium projects.
However, despite successive governments’ attempts to increase Asian language learning and Asian cultural competencies, these goals have not been achieved. Instead, as highlighted by the Hon Tim Watts MP, there was a 75 per cent decline in enrolments in Southeast Asian languages at Australian universities between 2004 and 2022.
Our members offer studies in Japanese, Indonesian, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Korean, and Arabic, and across the IRU, around 50% more students are studying Asian languages compared with European languages. However, enrolments across all language groups are decreasing.
Research in Asian languages and culture fall under the banner of the humanities and social sciences (HASS), a discipline area that does not receive the same level of support as STEM or medical sciences. Furthermore, the study of humanities (at undergraduate level) has been in decline since the 2010s, which could be attributed to it being undervalued for its perceived lack of utility in society and the workforce, and concerns about cost/misunderstandings about its economic value.1 The Job-Ready Graduates funding model has contributed to the rhetoric that HASS does not produce graduates who are employment ready, and although foreign languages were tabled under Band 4, Asian studies was included under Band 1. This means that even if students major in a foreign language, they are still subject to the highest student fees for the rest of their subjects in Asian Studies. (See IRU recommendations on options for JRG reform here.)
Recommendations:
- Recognise Asia capability as a sovereign capability, included as a priority area of research through mechanisms such as the National Science and Research Priorities.
- Recognise Asia capability as part of the National Skills Taxonomy, to better reflect its status as an essential skill for Australia’s future.
- Reform Job-Ready Graduates (JRG) policy by restoring government funding for humanities and social sciences (HASS) and reducing student fees (currently in the highest band)
- Reinstate a broad program of international mobility and engagement that complements the New Colombo Plan (NCP)
- Incorporate Asian languages and culture education and research, as appropriate, in new university mission-based compact agreements with government.
Read the full submission here.
1 Bradshaw, W., & Croft, J. (2025). Situating Narratives of Decline: Surveying the Literature of Crisis from a Regional Humanities Student Perspective. Australian Humanities Review, 73, 203–218. https://doi.org/10.56449/14631928
Norton, A. (2023, July 4). The decline of the humanities. Andrew Norton: Higher education commentary from Carlton. https://andrewnorton.id.au/2023/07/04/the-decline-of-the-humanities/
