外媒——對中國留學生在澳大利亞大學中的地位再思考

來自專欄澳洲老司機5 人贊了文章

本文的作者Eric Knight是澳洲華裔，悉尼大學的副校長，主抓研究領域企業關係管理。

原文來自Financial Review，小U編譯

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中國人所說的"海鷗 "--那些在東西方之間飛來飛去的人, 在兩地都有一個窩, 在東西交匯處創造機會。我們必須共同努力, 使澳大利亞成為一個有吸引力的築窩棲息地。

澳大利亞高等教育機構中的中國學生入學人數的增長為中澳建立地區戰略聯繫提供了千載難逢的機會。但最近的辯論表明，政府和商界領袖並沒有深刻領會這一經濟契機的本質。

批評者與其將來到澳大利亞的中國學生看作大學的收入來源，或是擔憂中國學生影響校園生活或國內政治，不如去尋找機會，與嶄露頭角的中國企業家接觸的機會。許多人是事業有成之後來到澳大利亞的，在中國創辦或者經營自己的企業，不少估值高達數百萬澳元。

中國千禧一代的重要新趨勢之一是他們對官僚機構中的職業發展不感興趣。互聯網和投資巨頭騰訊旗下的一家研究公司企鵝智酷報告稱，中國的90年後約有50％希望自己創業，19％已經創業。25-30歲的年齡段創業比例最高，多達40％的人創辦了自己的公司。

考慮流入中國風險投資的非常投資，企鵝智酷報告的發現不足為奇。例如，今年7月1日，招商局集團宣布，以日本軟銀基金為藍本，創辦1000億元人民幣（200億澳元）風險投資基金，目的是尋求重塑電信和互聯網領域。之前，中國地方政府在當地和海外都設立重要的技術基金，如北京的丹華資本和杭州的經濟技術開發區投資。後者尤其關注有能力利用和改造中國的工業化經濟基礎的商業投資。

雖然美中貿易局勢緊張，但澳大利亞有機會通過接觸中國的學生群體來發揮軟實力。即將來到悉尼大學的MBA學生孟瑤就是一個例子。在大學學習期間，她將繼續管理自己三年前創辦的教育企業分布在全球各地的22名員工。她進一步學習的興趣主要在於提高英語水平，同時也將她自學成才的專業知識正式化，這樣便可進一步國際化她的公司：「我報名學習，是為了擴大我的關係網，尤其是那些成功的企業家，他們可以幫助我學會如何發展我的業務。「

創造吸引力或者錯失良機

孟瑤是出色的，但絕不是偶然。我們看到在校園創業課程中的中國學生入學人數迅速增長，例如悉尼大學的加速孵化器。此外，中國高管開始在澳大利亞創造商機。許多人將澳大利亞視為新產品和服務的測試市場，特別是因為悉尼和墨爾本居住著為數眾多的中國僑民。這意味著像阿里巴巴和騰訊這樣的公司通常會直接或間接通過子公司在澳大利亞首發世界首創功能，以便在世界範圍內推廣之前測試其商業可行性。

澳大利亞的大學需要進一步投資，創建世界一流的創業課程，使我們能夠吸引和留住最優秀的商業人才，無論是中國人還是來自其它國家的人才。但是，在我們付諸實施的過程中，與政府和企業合作非常重要。各級政府都在這一方面取得進展。在悉尼，新南威爾士州政府通過支持悉尼創業中心和悉尼創業學院發揮了重要作用。然而，這些舉措尚未建立明確的戰略範圍，也未重點關注中國。 Haymarket HQ是一個例外，該公司由Banna地產集團的Brad Chan創辦，作為非營利組織運營，與NSW Jobs合作，在澳中商業關係牽線搭橋方面發揮獨特作用。

如果澳大利亞因擔心可能的負面影響而未能吸引和留住中國學生人才，那麼澳大利亞將錯失成為面向亞洲的新企業的地緣政治中心的機會。學生是當前的關鍵渠道，但市場正在發生變化。據「經濟學人」報道，80％的中國學生現在留學後回到中國，2006年時學成歸國人數不到三分之一。雖然中國的科技熱潮的磁鐵般的吸引力是我們無法阻止的，但我們可以做得更多更好，讓中國學生在澳大利亞感到他們是受歡迎的，支持他們在澳洲努力工作，並通過企業研究生課程和參與公民機構幫助他們更好地融入澳洲社會。 這不必是零和遊戲。

中國人所說的"海鷗 "--那些在東西方之間飛來飛去的人, 在兩地都有一個窩, 在東西交匯處創造機會。我們必須共同努力, 使澳大利亞成為一個有吸引力的築窩棲息地。

Original Version：

The growth in Chinese student enrolments in Australian institutions of higher education offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build strategic ties in the region. But recent debate suggests that political and business leaders dont necessarily appreciate the nature of the economic opportunity.

Rather than viewing the inflow of Chinese students to Australia as a revenue earner for universities, or fretting about the influence of Chinese students on campus life or domestic politics, critics should look for an opportunity. At hand is the chance to engage with an emerging cadre of Chinese entrepreneurs. Many are coming to Australia on the back of established success, having started or run their own businesses in China, often with multimillion-dollar valuations.

This is part of a major new trend among Chinas Millennial generation, who are far from aspiring to careers in bureaucracy. Penguin Intelligence, a research firm owned by internet and investment giant Tencent, has reported about 50 per cent of Chinese citizens born after 1990 wish to start their own business; and 19 per cent already have. This is highest among those between 25-30, where as many as 40 per cent have started their own company.

These findings are not surprising when placed alongside the extraordinary investment that is flowing into venture capital in China. On July 1 this year, for example, China Merchants Group announced a new 100 billion yuan ($20 billion) venture fund modelled on Japans SoftBank fund, which is seeking to refashion the telecoms and internet sector. This comes in the wake of significant municipal government tech funds being set up both locally and offshore, such as Beijings Danhua Capital and Hangzhous HEDA Investment. The latter is particularly focused on business investments with the ability to tap into and transform Chinas industrialising economic base.

Although much is made of the US-China trade tensions, Australia has the opportunity to exert soft power through our access to Chinas student populations. Meng Yao, an incoming MBA student at the University of Sydney, is an example. While studying at university, she will continue to manage a staff of 22 employees worldwide in an education business she started three years ago. Her interest in further study is to improve her English, but also formalise her self-taught expertise in business so she can further internationalise her company: "I enrolled to grow my connections, especially amongst successful entrepreneurs, who can help me learn how to support my business development."

Create appeal or miss out

Meng is exceptional, but not an exception. We are seeing rapid growth in Chinese student enrolments in start-up programs on campus, such as at Sydney Universitys accelerator Incubate. Moreover, Chinese executives are beginning to create business opportunities in Australia. Many view Australia as a test market for new products and services, in particular because of the significant diaspora in Sydney and Melbourne. This means that companies like Alibaba and Tencent will often release world-first features in Australia either directly or through subsidiaries in order to test their commercial viability before wide roll-out.

Australian universities need to invest further in creating world-class entrepreneurship curriculum that allows us to attract and retain the best business talent, whether Chinese or otherwise. However, it is important for us to work in co-operation with government and business as we do so. Governments are making progress in this area. In Sydney, the NSW government has played an important role through its support for the Sydney Start-up Hub, and the Sydney School of Entrepreneurship. However, these initiatives are yet have a strategic geographic, or Chinese, focus. An exception is Haymarket HQ, owned by Brad Chan of Banna Property Group, which is run as a not-for-profit. It is establishing a unique role in intermediating Australia-Chinese business relations in collaboration with Jobs for NSW.

If Australia fails to attract and retain Chinese student talent out of a fear of the possible negative consequences, it will miss out on the chance to be a geopolitical hub for new Asia-facing businesses. Students are a key conduit at the moment, but the market is changing. The Economist has reported that 80 per cent of Chinese students now return home to China after their studies, compared to less than a third in 2006. While the tech boom in China is a magnet we cant stop, we could do more to make Chinese students feel welcomed, support their work endeavours while in Australia, and help them become better integrated via corporate graduate programs and participation in civic institutions. This neednt be a zero-sum-game.

Chinese refer to "seagulls" – those who flit between East and West, retaining a place in both regions and leveraging their intersection. We must work together to make Australia an attractive place to roost.

Eric Knight is Chinese-Australian and pro-vice-chancellor (research – enterprise and engagement) at the University of Sydney.