Partners in the global economy
China is one of UQ’s most significant global partners—shaping deep connections across education, research and innovation. UQ’s engagement with China spans extensive student mobility, world-class research collaboration and growing commercialisation partnerships. These strong linkages have been built over decades through trusted relationships with leading Chinese institutions, particularly the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as collaboration with influential industry and funding bodies.
Fast facts
13,104
Chinese students enrolled at UQ
1,372
China-UQ co-publications
251
academic staff born in China
28
research project collaborations
38,314
alumni in China
138
agreements with 89 official partners
Fast facts show full year 2025 data.
Collaboration in action
- The Australian Government has awarded scholarships to three University of Queensland students as part of its New Colombo Plan (NCP) 2018 round.
- Bachelor of Environmental Management students recently put their studies into practise in Wuhan, China, working with the WWF conservation NGO to improve the health of the Yangtze River.
- A University of Queensland scientist whose pioneering work has helped unravel the complexity of the human genome and genetic traits has won a 2017 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science.
- University of Queensland research projects to develop better batteries for renewable energy and a way of predicting crop yields from space have been funded under a joint Queensland-China scheme.
- Eight collaborative research projects – ranging from chemical biotechnology, to health and archeological science – have been successful in the second round of the 2017 UQ Global Strategy and Partnerships Seed Funding Scheme.
- UQ recently hosted the third collaborative forum in which academics and researchers meet to discuss issues of national and international significance, and how these can be advanced by collaboration in the humanities and social science disciplines.
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Chinese culture at UQ
UQ has a long history of providing Mandarin language and Chinese culture programs, with the first Chinese classes held as early as 1967. Today, UQ students can study Mandarin Chinese through the School of Languages and Cultures, which offers more than 50 Chinese courses including Techniques in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, and Chinese Translation and Interpreting.
The Institute of Modern Languages (IML) also offers Chinese courses (Mandarin and Cantonese) for the wider Brisbane community, as well as translation and interpreting services.
Alumni
China is home to a significant UQ alumni network - UQ has 30,161 alumni living in China. Alumni with significant links to China include: