Australians’ concerns about university ties with China are at their lowest level since the pandemic, even though most locals remain unconvinced that their country’s academic values can withstand Beijing’s influence.

A of more than 2,000 Australians has found that attitudes towards research partnerships with China remain ambiguous, despite signs of warming.

Fifty-eight per cent of respondents said academic collaborations between the two countries boosted Australia’s international competitiveness, up from 48 per cent when the survey was first conducted four years ago. Sixty-three per cent said joint research projects should continue and 72 per cent said Australia benefited from cooperation between the two countries’ scientists, up from 64 per cent in 2021.

The proportion of locals who believed ties between the two nations’ universities compromised Australians’ freedom of speech had slipped to 44 per cent, down from 50 per cent in 2022. However, another 33 per cent remained unsure, leaving just 23 per cent who expressed confidence about the resilience of Australian freedom of expression.

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The survey, by the University of Technology Sydney’s Australia-China Relations Institute (Acri), is the latest in a series that began in 2021. Co-author Elena Collinson said ordinary Australians seemed happier about scientific collaboration than political and security insiders who were more “attuned to the risks”.

Collinson, Acri’s manager of research analysis, said efforts to tackle foreign interference and boost transparency requirements may have eased public concerns. “Most Australians aren’t following the technical details…but the effects of those measures seem to be filtering into public opinion indirectly.

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“[It seems] that what shapes sentiment is less the specifics of policy and more the tone of the national debate – the absence of new scandals and the sense that risk is being handled.”

Collinson said the surveys had shown that Australians “can hold two things in their minds at the same time. There is a distinction…between the Chinese state and Beijing as a threat, and [a] strong view that people of Chinese origin are very separate from the Chinese government.

“[The] public [appears to be] trying to avoid conflating geopolitical mistrust with suspicion of individuals, by maintaining strong reservations about the Chinese government, while simultaneously supporting…controlled and selective links that benefit Australia.”

She said Australians appreciated the economic and public interest benefits of collaborating with China in areas like health, environment and education, while remaining extremely wary of joint research in “dual use” fields like artificial intelligence.

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Collaborative research involving China has attracted a steadily declining share of Australian Research Council (ARC) grants. China was listed as a partner in 47 grants in 2023, down from 102 in 2020-21 and 116 in 2019. The ARC’s latest outcome reports, mainly from 2025, list 50 instances of funded research involving China.

The Acri survey found that 75 per cent of Australians considered local universities “too financially reliant” on students from China.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com