Monash and Tsinghua University strengthen shared vision for globalised education and partnerships

Tsinghua University President, Professor Li Luming and Monash University Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Sharon Pickering.

Monash University Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Sharon Pickering, welcomed a delegation from Tsinghua University to discuss the potential for future collaboration.

The visit, led by Tsinghua University President, Professor Li Luming, was an opportunity to strengthen a shared vision for globalised education with a focus on partnerships, innovation, entrepreneurship, technology, and strong ties to industry.

At the official welcome, Professor Pickering said Monash and Tsinghua held a common interest and strength in interdisciplinary research, and recognised the importance of  addressing complex global, social and economic issues such as sustainable development and climate change.

“Tsinghua and Monash have been collaborating in various forms for many years, including via agreements involving student exchange, articulation and academic collaboration,” said Professor Pickering.

“We are both strongly grounded in our foundational purpose to realise social and technological transformation to meet the challenges of the age for the aspiring communities and industries around us.”

Tsinghua and Monash have been collaborating for many years via agreements involving student exchange, articulation and academic collaboration.

Over the past five years, Tsinghua and Monash have shared almost 1,000 co-publications involving 508 Tsinghua researchers and 380 Monash researchers.

Notable research projects include the establishment of The ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies,  the ARC Research Hub for Graphene Enabled Industry Transformation, and research into the behaviour of ultra-high strength double-skin composite tubular construction involving the ARC by the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) and Senior Vice President, Professor Craig Jeffrey, said Monash’s engagement with Tsinghua and China is driven in part by the people-to-people relationships they can foster together.

“We believe there is significant potential for further mutually beneficial collaboration, leveraging the great commonality in our strategic vision, approach to excellent education and research and ambitions for global impact,” said Professor Jeffrey.

Current and potential future Monash-Tsinghua engagement 

  • Tsinghua University and Monash University have been collaborating in various forms at least since the mid-2000s.
  • Over that time, 12 agreements have been signed, including student exchange, academic collaboration, and articulation agreements.
  • One of these agreements is active: a student exchange agreement that commenced in July 2021 and expires in July 2026 and provides arrangements to exchange undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students between Tsinghua University and Monash’s campuses in Australia and Malaysia.
  • Over the past five years, Monash University has hosted six exchange students from Tsinghua University, including two in 2019 and four in 2023, comprising five undergraduate students and one post-graduate student, with each student completing 1 semester at Monash.
  • Nine Monash undergraduate students have undertaken a one semester exchange at Tsinghua University: Six in 2019, two in 2023 and one in 2024.
  • Research is the largest area of collaboration, as measured by co-publications: Tsinghua is Monash’s second largest co-publishing institution in China and Monash is Tsinghua’s second largest co-publishing institution in Australia.

About Monash University

Monash is a modern, global, research-intensive university, delivering education and research excellence across our four Australian campuses, as well as our campuses in Malaysia and Indonesia. We also have campuses in partnership with universities in India and China, and

offer immersive global programs including Global Immersion Guarantee (GIG), Monash Innovation Guarantee (MIG) and Research, Experimentation and Discovery (RED).

About Tsinghua University

Tsinghua University is ranked No. 1 in China, the whole of Asia-Oceania region according to the Times Higher Education, with its industry income, research, and teaching performance indicator placed at 1st, 4th and 9th respectively in the world. Internationally, Tsinghua was regarded as the most reputable Chinese university by the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings where it has ranked 8th globally and 1st in the Asia-Pacific. Tsinghua University is currently ranked 20 in QS and 15 in THE in 2025.