Australian businesses looking for alternative markets to China during the current trade tensions could have their efforts undermined by the closure of language programs by a number of universities,” the national employer association, the Ai Group, has warned.
The organisation says La Trobe University and Murdoch University have both announced that they will close their Indonesian programs this year, continuing a long-term and disturbing national trend of reducing the number of student places in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) languages.
“There is talk that other institutions will follow suit,” Ai Group’s Chief Executive, Innes Willox, said.
Australia may be scoring an own goal
“There is an economic cost to these decisions and it is an own goal for us to reduce our regional language expertise at a time when exports to ASEAN are expanding,” he cautioned.
“Ai Group is this year issuing more Certificates of Origin for exports to ASEAN than China, with 25% issued for China compared with 30% for ASEAN. To maintain and grow our regional markets requires a workforce that is literate in Asian language and culture.”
Willox said there had been much talk of Australia’s need to develop an Asia-Ready Workforce Strategy for more than a decade and such an approach is needed now more than ever.
Australia needed businesses that understood regional languages, culture, politics and legal hurdles. Without the foundation of school and university language programs this was potentially a lost cause.
Employers need staff with language skills
“A key plank of the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) is a skills-exchange program between related companies in Indonesia and Australia. If employers don’t have access to Australian staff with some Indonesian-language skills, they won’t be able to benefit from the program,” Willox said.
“There is a lot of talk about the need for businesses to find alternative markets to manage the increased risk of relying on China.
“Indonesia, and ASEAN in general, are the most viable alternatives to China and we need a skilled workforce to capitalise on opportunities,” he said.
