More than just language: Melbourne hosts landmark Asian forum

The University of Melbourne will host a landmark international forum that will take a closer look on the role of language and culture in Asia, this weekend. The 2013 Melbourne - Tsinghua Asia-Pacific Forum on Translation and Inter-Cultural Studies will come to Australia for the first time from November 16 to 18. Co-organised by the University's Asia Institute , Confucius Institute and Melbourne Graduate School of Education , as well as Tsinghua University in China, the forum will discuss current trends in teaching the nuances of language across different cultures, from and education to writing and publishing support. It will be one of the first events co-hosted by Tsinghua University outside of China. Tsinghua, part of China's C9 group of leading universities, is widely regarded as one of China's most renowned universities. Melbourne and Tsinghua have a long-standing strategic relationship, which includes research collaboration, student exchange programs and summer schools in Melbourne for outstanding Tsinghua students. Professor Pookong Kee, Director of the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne, said the forum comes at a particularly relevant time, just weeks after the first anniversary of the release of the previous Australian Government's Asian Century White Paper .