AUSTRALIA – Education city makes promises to lure universities
Australian Financial Review – 20 February 2016
The developers behind the proposed A$20 billion (US$14 billion) Australian Education City in Melbourne’s south-west are trying to lure Australian universities to join the project with a promise of an inside track to large numbers of international students and big research dollars from China, writes Tim Dodd for Australian Financial Review.
In a document titled “2016 Prospectus” the group says that universities which partner with Australian Education City or AEC, “will have access to new sources of research funding made available by the Chinese government and multinationals”. It says partner universities “may be able to access funding and co-research opportunities that may otherwise not being [sic] available to non-Chinese institutions”.
AEC says in the prospectus that it will create the “largest research and development park in the southern hemisphere”. AEC, led by property investor Bill Zheng, was selected as preferred bidder for the site three months ago and was to report back to the Victoria government on its progress by 15 February.
Source: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20160220094145161