ABSTRACT
The development of educational relations between Australia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has occurred within wider patterns of internationalisation of education in both countries. Australia-China educational links were in place to some extent at the time of the founding of China in 1949 but they have increased in size, scope and complexity since the inauguration of diplomatic relations between Australia and China thirty years ago. The following account reviews the evolution of these links through successive chronological phases. Illustrative examples of major trends are often derived from the research and experience of the author in New South Wales, since there have been few reports from other sources in the literature of education on this theme. The discussion which follows focuses on the level of higher and further education, since most connections have been at that level o f organisation. Based on perspectives drawn from the study of the internationalisation of education, educational links examined include the international experience and exchange of academic staff, general curricular orientations, flows of students and scholars and institutional links, which foster research, teaching and professional service. The appearance of these links is set in the framework of broad, underlying contextual and formative influences and their associated forms of organisation.
