Learning from China to internationalise Australian research education : pedagogies of intellectual equality and 'optimal ignorance' of ERA journal rankings

Chinese is now a global language because of the global flow of Chinese people throughout the world. This development provides an important intellectual basis for engaging in the transnational exchange of Chinese theoretical knowledge. The argument developed here is that learning from international (and migrant) research students from China is a way to internationalise Australian research education programs. Rancière’s concept of 'ignorance of inequality' informs the pedagogies of intellectual equality reported here by providing an interruption to the prevailing sense and sensibilities of research education. Chinese doctoral students' analysis of Australian research policy verifies the presumption that they are capable of scholarly argumentation using Chinese theoretical tools.