Asian Era in International Education

I have included the topic of inter-cultural communication in my class since 2008. Basically, my assumption is everyone who studies international business should learn the difficulties of cross-cultural communication and be comfortable with it. A number of studies that I looked at from key journals in international business (such as Journal of International Business Studies and Asia Pacific Journal of Management) confirm that communication does matter.

In BRW magazine a few months ago, the editor cited that Australian businesses lack the skills needed to cash in on the Asia boom with most executives unable to speak an Asian language.

They conducted a few surveys on this issue and it shows that, although most companies surveyed plan to increase their exposure to the rapidly growing markets on our doorstep, more than half had minimal experience in the region.

The report, by the Australian Industry Group and Asialink, said three-quarters of the 380 businesses surveyed were eyeing opportunities in Asia, and more than half were planning to expand over the next year.

But it also said 84 per cent of board members did not speak an Asian language, highlighting a key skills deficit facing Australia.

I found one repot that interview the CEO of Ai Group (Heather Ridout) and found that as more businesses had their futures tied to the region, these shortages were shaping up as a challenge.

Ms Ridout called on the government to create a workforce strategy to ensure Australian businesses had the necessary skills to engage in the region, and to invest more in Asian language programs.


I currently am working at a University of Technology where only 2 Asian languages, Chinese and Japanese, are taught. Having established the move from members of South East Asian nations (from ASEAN Free Trade Area to ASEAN economic community), I believe that languages such as Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese, Thai, Hindu, Bahala MAlayu etc. must be included in our business and management education.