In ‘Secret life of…’ we reveal the lesser-known sides of some well-known Macquarie people.

As Pro Vice-Chancellor (International), Nicole Brigg advances the University’s relationships with governments, universities and partners around the world to support our international student recruitment, outbound student mobility, and international academic and research collaborations.

It’s quite fitting then that Nicole’s passion is China – a place she first discovered in books as a child, and has visited countless times since. Here she shares more about her connection with this amazing country.

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My first ‘journey’ to China was at eight years old when my parents gave me a book called Marco Polo Junior – By Land to Xanadu. The story of Marco Polo’s journey through India and China fascinated me and I went on to study Chinese history in high school before completing degrees in Political Science and Chinese History and Language at ANU. During this time, I was twice an international student at Chinese universities.

Since then, my career has always involved working with China in some way – firstly in the textiles industry, then in horticulture and for the past 18 years in international education.

My Mandarin is at an intermediate level now – it’s hard to find time to maintain a working facility with a language that’s so notoriously difficult to speak and read/write.  I listen to music and podcasts to try to ‘keep my ear in’, and I am encouraging my children to also learn Mandarin which helps me as well.

Of course, it’s always great to travel to China and spend time immersed in the language on the ground. I’ve travelled all over the country by plane, train and bus, and am particularly interested in the regional cities outside the Shanghai-Beijing corridor.

In 1993 ­– long before it was discovered by tourists – I was lucky enough to visit Lijiang, a historical city perched on one of the seven Tibetan plateaus in the deep southwest of China. It’s a beautifully preserved stone town, home of the Naxhi tribe and noted for its canals, which are fed by snow-rush streams.  On this trip I also rode a bicycle 22 kilometres across the Lijiang plain to see the famous Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on a day of flawless blue skies with the cleanest air imaginable.

There’s still so much for me to discover about this amazing country and its history, food and culture, and it’s wonderful to now be building linkages between Macquarie and China as part of my role.

Macquarie International has been very successful in attracting international students from China to study at our University, but there is also a great deal that Macquarie International can do to support faculties in building the scale and quality of their research collaborations with China.

With its continued economic growth, China is investing heavily in its education system and in research and development, with Australia seen as a desirable partner. I really look forward to being part of our exciting collaborations with China in the years ahead.