First Chinese foreign campus to be open in Melbourne following $8m investment

MELBOURNE -- The new Global Business College of Australia (GBCA) based in the Australian city of Melbourne is set to be launched on Wednesday in Beijing following an $8.6 million investment in the project.

It will be the first international campus of a Chinese tertiary institution after Huashang College purchased two buildings in the middle of the city.

The college will be operated by Huashang, and will allow Australian and international students to be taught together by English speaking teachers.

China has chosen Australia for its first foray into "internationalizing" its education system. Celina Yu, college manager of GBCA, told Xinhua that the school would focus on vocational education and the investment in Australia would allow them to learn more about the advanced experience from the Oceania country.

David Dukes, the Beijing-based Australian education commissioner for North Asia, told The Australian newspaper that the GBCA Melbourne campus "could well augur more such investments into Australian education from China."

Figures from China show that there are more than 200,000 students from China already studying in Australian schools, colleges and universities, with the recent increase a consequence of the lower Australian dollar.

The Huashang Education Group, a family-controlled Chinese conglomerate, currently provides services for 35,000 students including a business-focused college and a University of Finance and Economics.

Initially, the college will offer certificates in accounting and bookkeeping and is seeking to add degrees in similar areas to its program after it received approval as a registered training organization from the Australian Skills Quality Authority.

The accounting course they will offer has already been recognized by Certified Practising Accountants Australia.

The first international students of the college are set to arrive in the middle of 2016.