Rebuilding. Innovation. Advanced. These words often accompany modern education, where students now face a new era of learning and working alongside the benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence. Technology, therefore, remains one of the biggest driving factors of society.
However, one fundamental aspect that society sometimes forgets is the power of education. Access to the right kind of education and research will often change not only individuals, but communities and nations as a whole.
Both Korea and Australia have witnessed critical changes triggered by education. So it’s hardly surprising to see the two nations engaging in the strong relationship they enjoy today, as part of diplomatic ties they have enjoyed for over 6 decades.
Since sending troops to fight alongside South Koreans in the Korean War, Australia has done much more for Korea, and vice versa. As of 2021, the two countries upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations. As of 2025, Seoul stood as one of Canberra’s five largest trade partners.
“Change comes if you have access to education,” said Susan Jones, the Counsellor for Education and Research at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo. She covers both Korea and Japan.
Jones’ department supports all things in transnational education, but in particular, it focuses on enhancing collaborative research and related exchanges between Korea and Australia. Through the Embassy of Australia in Seoul, a director of education and research facilitates deep engagement between the counsellor’s unit and the Korean Ministry of Education. Approximately every 2 years, the two sides hold senior officials’ meetings to stay aligned.
“Obviously universities drive their own agenda and programs, but anything we can do to assist with that, build partnerships, relationships, student exchange is something very important to the government. And that’s underpinned by the really strong strategic relationship between Korea and Australia,” the counsellor said in an online interview with The Korea Herald.
Australia continues to invest in the ongoing programs for travel and studying between the two countries, but in recent years, there is increasing focus on fostering research collaboration, according to Jones.
“We know that Korea is a leader in critical technology. Korea is very famous for some very important industries. They have connections with Australia, but also great demonstrations of how modern and advanced Korea is. So these strengths are very complementary. So there is a really complementary nature,” Jones said.
Jones hopes to see not only research between individuals thrive, but also on an institution-to-institution level. In addition to people links, these partnerships provide shared long-term research goals, she said.
Some success has already emerged. In June 2025, UNSW Sydney signed a strategic partnership with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology to deepen emerging research and translation collaboration between the two universities. Key areas of interest were student mobility, biotechnology and climate.
In September the same year, Monash University signed a memorandum of understanding with K-Bio Lab Hub — South Korea’s government-backed biotech incubator. Under the agreement, K-Bio Lab Hub plans to kick off its first Australian launchpad within the Monash Technology Precinct and support biotech startups.
The memorandum, Jones said, serves as a systematic program for institutions to work together.
Another key area of interest for the counsellor is research security. The scope of research includes not only research itself, but the protection of it. And not just classified information, but the growing trend is seeing more safeguards put in place to protect universities, researchers, data, intellectual property, technology and research partnerships.
“We know at the moment, Korea is doing a lot of work on that, so we are very interested in learning about that,” Jones said.
According to OECD figures, global research security initiatives have risen to over 250 last year, in striking contrast to 27 in 2018.
Finally, there’s much to be said for the cultural influence that seems to have a life of its own, Jones noted.
“We have also seen in Australia an influence of really strong Korean culture. It starts from that awareness of popular culture. It’s music, movies, food, language. Then as they go into research fields, they learn that Korea is actually world-leading medically. Really great programs to bring AI to society. That’s something Australia is very interested in learning.”
Jones was aware her job was mostly behind-the-scenes and for the long-term, with practical results at times not as ready as desired. “But I am very happy that we can do a lot of things at grassroots. We can invest in those really early policy discussions,” said the counsellor. “Overall, it’s a privilege to live in another country and experience all these exciting developments.”
jemmie@heraldcorp.com
