Australia's sports event pedigree inspires students

Edward O'Daly

8 August 2006: Australia's successful staging of the 2000 Olympics was an inspiration to Beijing, which hosts the event in 2008, according to the latest cohort of Beijing police officers to arrive in Canberra to boost their communication skills ahead of the event.

Sixteen members of the Beijing Public Security Bureau make up the third group to study the Master of Professional English program and were officially welcomed to the campus last week.

Mr Zhu and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Sharon Bell exchange gifts Photo: Edward O'Daly

The group's leader Stephen Zhu described Sydney 2000 as "a good example of how to run a successful Olympic games".

In addition to the course, he said the group hoped to learn from Australia's multicultural population and from local police.

"Our English proficiency will be improved, but so will our multicultural thinking," he said.

"This is quite important for police officers at the Olympic games."