“Universities will be best served if they commit to acting together to confront China’s threats to academic freedom” independent monitor Human Rights Watch argues in a new report to be released this morning

HRW documents claims of harassment of Chinese students in Australia and academics and suggests universities have not always acted to defend their own.

“The failure of Australian universities to adequately respond to incidents of harassment and intimidation of students and staff has left them exposed and vulnerable. The higher education sector has also failed to develop strong policy responses to discourage such abuses from occurring and to ensure academic freedom,” HRW states.

The report builds on March evidence HRW’s Sophie McNeill and Elaine Pearson gave to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security for its current investigation into “National Security Risks affecting the higher education and research sector.”

HRW now calls on the Group of Eight and Universities Australia, as well as individual universities to, act collectively to protect students from China and academics from intimidation and harassment.

Specifics that some university managements will not like include, “refrain from having Confucius Institutes on campuses.” HRW also calls on the Commonwealth to ensure the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, “requires universities to meet a standard on protecting the academic freedom of international students from foreign governments.”

Peak body Universities Australia responds this morning, that “it condemned all forms of coercion, on campus, or in the classroom, or elsewhere in the community.”

UA calls for a united front of government, security agencies and universities in the Commonwealth’s University Foreign Interference Taskforce, “to develop additional guidance for the sector in dealing with difficult issues that affect students and staff, including those raised in the Human Rights Watch report.”

UA’s statement does not dispute HRW’s content.