Richer Relations? Four Decades of ASEAN-Australia Relations in Higher Education

Clearly evident over the past 40 years, since Australia became ASEAN’s first Dialogue Partner in 1974, is an evolving set of relations, notably including education. In turn, this sector needs to be set against the rich and multifaceted intra-ASEAN diversity, including religious, cultural and linguistic diversity, both within and between ASEAN member states, and levels of development, from wealthy, technologically highly developed nations such as Singapore, to very poor developing nations such as Laos and Myanmar (see Table 8.1). This chapter reviews the complex, changing relations between ASEAN and Australia in the education realm, focusing largely on higher education. This is not to diminish the importance of the school, or vocational education and training sectors, but rather a means to provide a sharper focus, as well as a reflection of the fact that higher education has been the most dynamic subsector within ASEAN-Australia relations in education. For much the same reasons, country data is also selective, with a focus largely on five key ASEAN member states—Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam—which encompass both the world’s largest majority-Muslim nation, as well as a range of levels of development and political ideologies.1