Jacinta Allan Provides $10,000 Scholarships for Students to Study in China
Udumbara
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Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan will provide a $10,000 scholarship for regional Victorians to study in China.
However, Opposition leader Brad Battin has suggested Allan should be broadening her horizons beyond China for investment opportunities.
The Labor leader is in Beijing meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Minister for Education Huai Jinpeng and other officials.
Allan is on her third visit to China and her first while serving as premier.
The $10,000 scholarships are named after former Victorian Premier Rupert Hamer.
Previously, these scholarships involved six-month language courses in either China, Indonesia, Japan or Korea. It was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Allan’s five-day trip from Sept. 14 to 19 is aimed at building links between Victoria and China.
She said her priorities for the trip are “education, education, education.”
With the 2026 Victorian election a little more than a year away, Allan is looking to woo support from voters with Chinese backgrounds. She highlighted in her speech 427,000 people in Victoria have Chinese ancestry and more than 300,000 speak a Chinese language at home.
The Victorian premier, on day one, launched her government’s “China Strategy: For a New Golden Era” in Beijing.
“My China Strategy has a goal: in five years’ time, we want one in every five international visitors to Victoria to come from China.”
She said as a country kid in the 90s, studying in Asia was an opportunity that did not feel in reach to her.
“But it should now. Regional kids deserve a clear shot at experiencing something that will profoundly shape their lives,” she said.
“The Working Group will meet every year to plan its agenda across schools, TAFEs, and universities—from classroom exchanges and sister-school partnerships to advanced skills and international education,” Allan said.
Minister for Education Ben Carroll also confirmed Victoria is trying to attract more Chinese international students.
Allan Keen for More International Students
Meanwhile, Allan has also made no apologies about her plan to attract more international students from China to Australia.“It means jobs, it means opportunities, particularly for regional kids.”
The Victorian Premier pitched her state as the destination of choice for the Chinese.
Look at Other Countries: Opposition Leader
Opposition leader Brad Battin has urged Allan to look at other countries aside from China.“Victoria is struggling to get investment from anywhere in the world at the moment, so Jacinta Allan, I think, needs to go to more than China,” he told reporters.
Former DFAT Australia-China Council scholar Andrew Phelan raised concerns about students studying in a “surveillance and censorship” state.
Allan’s visit comes just two weeks after her predecessor, former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, was photographed at the CCP military parade with Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Andrews received widespread condemnation from both the Liberal Party and Labor Party figures for his attendance.
