Senator Evans, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research led a delegation to visit Beijing from 19-21 February 2012. In addition to his meetings in support of Australia’s efforts to host the Square Kilometre Array, Minister Evans also met with the Chinese Minister for Education and the president of Tsinghua University.

Senator Evans announced a graduate student exchange program between Group of Eight universities and leading Chinese universities, and an Australia-China joint higher education forum to be conducted in Australia later this year. Senator Evans also presented an address at a breakfast hosted by AustCham Beijing. This visit demonstrated the Australian Government’s commitment to further strengthening institutional collaboration between Australia and China, and to encouraging more Australian students to take the opportunity to study in China as part of their university experience. These messages were received well by the Chinese Government and provide a strong platform to further deepen the bilateral relationship.