Study tour to promote Australia to Chinese students

CANBERRA, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Australian National University (ANU) has launched a new program to promote the country to Chinese students and build closer people-to-people ties.

Under the Stephen FitzGerald Scholars Program - named after the first Australian ambassador to China - Chinese students already enrolled at Australian universities will have the opportunity to go to Canberra on a three-day study tour.

Students selected for the tour will be offered access to Australia's High Court, the Federal Parliament, the National Museum, the National Press Club and the Museum of Australian Democracy.

Chinese international students are a crucial component of Australia's higher education sector, said academic convenor Mark Kenny on Wednesday.

The tour would help "in building trust and facilitating harmonious and productive relations into the future," Kenny said.

The initiative will be funded by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations for the Australian Studies Institute at ANU.

During their three-day tour, the students will be addressed by FitzGerald, who studied at ANU before serving as the first ambassador to China from 1973 to 1976.