与业内大多数机构一样，英国基尔大学也希望扩大与中国的联系。为此，我在今年9月加入了一个由来自20所英国大学的校长、副校长和高级职员组成的代表团。我们访问了北京、上海和其他一些城市。会议气氛热烈，我们受益匪浅。但是，我们这样做的背景是，许多政客在表达对两国高等教育联系“过密”的担忧。

理性辩论的第一条规则是确定事实。40多年来，英中两国在研究和高等教育领域开展多层次合作。在过去的20年内，中国建立了极具针对性且成熟的大规模跨国教育体系。没有任何迹象表明，海外大学对这一可持续的成功项目兴趣减少，它们都在排队等候参与其中。

按照定义，跨国教育是将有关（外国）教学项目带给（本地）学生，而非将学生派往外国学习。当然，学生流动性也是英中高等教育合作关系的关键组成部分。中国仍是英国最大的国际学生招生市场之一，约有15万名中国学生在英国留学。英国学生也前往中国参加短期学习项目。英国文化教育协会称，过去10年来，超过6.7万英国年轻人在中国参加学习、实习和教学项目。这有助于实现英国高等教育的目标，即继续成为关键合作伙伴，并有助于中英之间形成更广泛的社会、经济和文化联系。

在跨国教育领域，目前共有260多个本科及以上层次的中英合作办学项目和机构获中国教育部批准设立，总入学人数超过7万。总体而言，英国跨国教育项目在中国招收的学生人数超过在任何其他国家的招生人数，这种情况在未来许多年内都不太可能改变。

英国与中国也开展强有力的合作。无论是在艺术领域还是在科学领域，与中国都有很多合作机会。在中国经济持续增长和社会持续发展的基础上，越来越多的学科领域正被继续纳入英中合作。

代表团在离开中国时一致认为，英国在大学内外都需要培养更强的中国文化认知。目前，我们的认知无疑是滞后的，中国在多个领域的领导地位都旨在实现世界多极化。英国时任外交大臣在今年4月的演讲中说：“我们必须面对一个不可避免的现实，即没有中国的参与，任何重大的全球性问题都不可能得到解决。”谨记：大学有助于解决全球问题。因此，英国的大学必须架设通往北京的桥梁。

By David Law

In common with most institutions in the sector, Keele is aiming to expand its connections in China.  As part of this work, in September 2023 I joined a mission of Vice-Chancellors, Pro-VCs, and senior staff from 20 UK universities. We visited Beijing, Shanghai, and some other cities. The meetings were engaging and we learnt a lot. But we did this in a context of a chorus of concern voiced by many politicians that the UK’s HE links are already too close.

British Council, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and Universities UK International (UUKi) organized a comprehensive programme. We were the first formal group visit to China since the pandemic. Previous groups often took a specific focus, such as scientific research, or were set up by organisations such as the Russell Group. The September tour was representative of the whole sector, with an approximately equal representation between Russell Group and non-RG universities.

The 2023 UK-China Higher Education Forum was a major highlight. Co-curated by the British Council and the CEAIE (China Education Association for International Exchange), 40 Chinese universities attended the Forum.

The first rule of rational debate is to establish the facts.

Context

For more than 40 years, the UK and China have engaged in multi-level collaboration in research and higher education. The starting point was the ‘Third Plenum’, December 1978, which confirmed the leadership of Deng Xiaoping and marked the beginning of “reform and opening up” in China’s economy. The new approach in China was based on the use of market mechanisms, the import of capital and some capitalist techniques, and technological modernization acquired through controlled integration with Europe and America. In the industrial economy this led to various forms of joint ventures. In HE, this would propel Chinese universities towards collaborative international models, within a policy framework designed by Chinese officials.  This has certainly raised the quality of Chinese universities and created ‘trans-national education with Chinese characteristics.

During two decades, in China, a highly specific and mature large-scale trans-national education (TNE) has been established. In other territories, the profit motive is very apparent; in China, the government strictly limits how much money the foreign partner can repatriate. It calls this ‘reasonable return’.

There is no sign that appetite diminishes from overseas universities who queue up to participate in this sustained and successful project. The published TNE data shows China to be the top location for UK delivery (https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/universities-uk-international/events-and-news/uuki-news/another-record-breaking-year-uk).

TNE is defined by bringing the programme to the student, not vice-versa. If only for currency outflow reasons, it makes sense for China to encourage more students to stay in their home country. TNE activity in China is also highly distinctive, as well as being very large. Globally, nowhere else is the state so paramount, as illustrated by the range of programme approval procedures used by the Beijing Ministry of Education. Chinese colleagues that I speak with are astonished that a UK university does not need government permission to establish TNE in China.

Current features of the UK/China relationship in HE

Of course, student mobility is a crucial dimension of this relationship. China remains one of the top international student recruitment markets for the UK, with approximately 150,000 Chinese students studying in the UK. Whilst the numbers are very lop-sided, UK students do go to China for short-term study programmes. The British Council reported to the HE Forum that, over the last decade, more than 67,000 young people from the UK have participated in study, internship, and teaching programmes in China, both through its own initiatives and other possibilities. The UK HE sector has a cohort of impressive alumni employed in China. Many alumni are now in senior administrative positions in public and private organisations; they contribute significantly to the Chinese economy and they help to shape public opinion. This contributes to the narrow objective of UK HE (to remain a key partner), and to a wider wide range of social, economic, and cultural connections between China and the UK. 

In TNE, there are now more than 260 joint education programmes and institutes that have formal approval by the Ministry of Education (including 44 joint institutes (JI) – this includes Keele’s Health and Medical Sciences JI in Chengdu). The total TNE enrollment is above 70,000 students.  Collectively, UK TNE has more students in China than in any other country; this is most unlikely to change for many years to come.

Research collaboration with China is also strong. Grants made by the UK-China Research and Innovation Partnership Fund facilitate connections between over 100 Chinese universities and more than 50 from the UK. The UK is now China’s second largest research partner in terms of academic co-publications; and China is also the UK’s second largest.  

Conclusions

There are many opportunities in China for collaboration, both in arts and sciences. On the basis of China’s sustained economic growth and social development, the number of disciplinary areas that are included in partnership models continues to expand. At one time, there was a major focus on management and IT; this has steadily changed.

Our delegation left China united in the view that the UK, within and beyond universities, needs to develop stronger cultural awareness of China. At present, there is no doubt that our awareness is lagging behind. For example, using comparative student numbers on ‘programmes’ of all kinds (short and long courses), Chinese participation in mobility is well over one order of magnitude higher. We need more students in our language classes, not just in our Chinese Studies departments, and to make a greater effort to involve students in outward mobility. The work by Michael Natzler for HEPI is particularly instructive (hyperlinked below).

China’s leadership, in all spheres, aims for multi-polarity in world systems. The UK’s reputation in China for quality HE is very strong; leaders of Chinese universities respect the achievements of our universities. But we must not take that for granted. We have a rich track record in education and research but we need to earn our reputation and evaluate all opportunities (for cost/benefit and risk). There is a danger of complacency; across the world there are other national systems that are competing with the UK for position in China.

Can the UK higher education sector rise to the challenge? We need to embrace reciprocity, although the parameters for safe engagement are not always clear. We must show our intellectual grasp of the challenges and operate in a way that is true to ourselves and to our heritage. 

In his Mansion House speech, 25 April 2023, the UK Foreign Secretary said: “we must face the inescapable reality that no significant global problem … can be solved without China.”  It must be said with conviction: universities help solve global problems.  Therefore, UK universities have to build bridges to Beijing but always with clear sightedness and careful risk analysis.

No UK university can disregard ‘stakeholder’ views; we must be ready to respond. We know that this hot topic in Whitehall and Westminster stirs the passions; we also know that our universities are not a branch of government. There are three principles outlined by the Foreign Office: protect [our interests], align [with our allies], engage. HE’s role is engagement; we leave it to government to define national policy.