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Like our born-again Prime Minister, UWA's new Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) is fluent in the most important language of the 21 ^st century.

Iain Watt has lived and worked in China and Taiwan for 14 years and he and his wife and two sons speak Mandarin about half the time at home.

"But my long experience and connections with Asia won't meant that I will be only focusing on this area in my new role," Mr Watt said.

"Much of the best research is still done in Europe and the US, so we will continue to engage with universities and institutions there as UWA builds its global reputation.

"But the vast majority of our international students and more and more quality research comes from Asia, so obviously our Asian partners are still a very important part of our global positioning."

Born in Scotland, Mr Watt came to Australia with his family as a teenager and studied pure mathematics, statistics and econometrics at ANU.  After 10 years in Government departments in Canberra (the last seven in Education), he decided to learn Chinese.

"China was the home of emerging opportunities," he said. "And I was ready for another challenge, something that would take me out of my comfort zone."

Armed with the language, he then lived and worked in Taiwan for three years for a market research company. He met his wife Paohsiu there and they returned to Australia, with Mr Watt returning to the Department of Education.

He helped set up Australian Education International in the mid-90s and became director of the Taiwan office for three years. Then followed eight years in the Australian Embassy in Beijing (interspersed with work at ANU, establishing the International Alliance of Research Universities).

He worked as an Education Counsellor and later Minister-Counsellor before another stint at the ANU as Director of international operations and student recruitment.

"Everything I've done has prepared me for this job," Mr Watt said. "It's a wonderful time to come to UWA, in a new role, with a new executive (except for Robyn Owens), all people I respect highly.

"The University is going through a time of great transition, moving from a somewhat old-fashioned and predominantly undergraduate university catering to Perth, to a modern postgraduate university catering to the world.

"It's not an easy transition. You can't leave everything behind.  We need to hang on to what UWA does very well."

He said Perth's student population was not big enough to support a world class university. "It is inevitable that the other universities in Perth will become more competitive and already universities in the eastern states are recruiting students from over here. So we must look for our students from around the world and all over Australia, which means we have to be relevant to these students."

Mr Watt said Perth sat ‘right in the middle' between Canberra and Beijing.  "It is six times as big as Canberra and an eighth the size of Beijing, so it's right in the middle and it suits me fine.

"We also have one of the most beautiful campuses in the world - and I've seen a few!" he said.

The Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) will get to see a few more over the next five months as he visits China, Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India and Europe and South America.

"It won't always be this hectic. I would normally expect to spend up to 12 weeks away each year."