Last week the Prime Minister was in Jakarta talking up the importance the bi-lateral relationship. Now the University of Tasmania announces it will cancel teaching the language.
The University announces this will mean one academic job would go – with two more to end by exiting German.
“Language teaching across Australia at Universities is in steady, long-term and potentially permanent decline – which is not unique to Australia, with the US and UK showing similar patterns,” is the explanation.
U Tas follows La Trobe U, which axed Indonesian in 2021, electing to keep teaching Greek and Hindi instead
As Liam Prince points out, “this is not just a Tasmanian issue (it) further weakens Australia’s already fragile national infrastructure for engaging with our most important neighbour.”
Mr Prince, Director of the Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies, argues “core infrastructure” is at risk – seeing Indonesian not as a cost centre, but as core national requirement.
He calls on the Commonwealth to fund languages in schools, to create a pool of future university students, including of Indonesian.
“It’s about ensuring that future generations of Australians are equipped to engage with our region.”
But that will not be easy. Last year Louisa Wong (University of Sydney) and colleagues warned that in 2021 that there were 10 students taking HSC Indonesian in NSW and predicted it would be extinct in schools by 2031.
“Australia is a fiercely English-speaking nation and notions of English exceptionalism have shaped attitudes towards language learning, allowing it to become a dispensable part of students’ education,” they warned.