In 1974, Andrew Watson was appointed as one of the founding Lecturers in Chinese in the newly-established Centre for Asian Studies at the University of Adelaide, where he continued his focus on combining language teaching and social science research.

Andrew became a Senior Lecturer and was appointed Professor of Asian Studies in the Centre for Asian Studies at the University of Adelaide from 1991 to 2001.

Alongside Professor Christopher Findlay, he became a co-founder and co-director of the University's Chinese Economies Research Unit, 1987-99.