Britain should send more students to study in China in a bid to reduce geopolitical tensions between the two countries, the head of the universities sector has said.
Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK (UUK), which represents more than 150 universities across Britain, told i that it would be “good for both of us” if the UK encouraged more young people to study at Chinese universities.
Since 2013, more than 67,000 people from the UK have participated in study, internship and teaching programmes across China, according to figures from the British Council.
However, the figure is dwarfed by the number of Chinese students who come to British universities every year to study, with almost 115,000 enrolling last year alone – the highest of any country.
Ms Stern told i: “I believe that it’s just as important for us to gain knowledge and understanding of China as the other way round.
“We should be encouraging more UK students to spend time in China, to learn Chinese, and to spend time in Chinese institutions.”
She suggested that China’s increasingly flourishing university sector means British students should be thinking about “full degrees” in the Asian country, as well as the “study abroad-type model”.
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It comes after the British Council said last year that there had been a shift in China’s education market, which is rapidly evolving to become more competitive. More than 300 Chinese universities now sit among the top 2,000 global higher education institutions, with 97 per cent improving their position last year, according to Forbes.
However, Ms Stern also cautioned that the move would have to tread a fine geopolitical balance, as British universities attempt to disentangle themselves from their over-reliance on Chinese students amid growing tensions between Beijing and the West.
The university sector chief revealed that many British universities have begun drawing up contingency plans to deal with their Chinese student populations in the event of a “real fracture in the relationship” between the two countries, such as if China were to invade neighbouring Taiwan.
“Many universities will be thinking through what would happen if something really significant got in the way of hosting Chinese students,” she told i.
“The existence of factors that would be out of the university sector’s control and could be quite serious sharpens the focus a little bit — coupled with the fact that there are a very large number of Chinese students in British universities and very well-developed links including in research.”
However, Ms Stern added that it was “important not to allow the anxieties over geopolitics to fundamentally interfere with the landscape of collaboration”.
It comes amid growing concerns that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could formally declare China a threat, after his predecessor Liz Truss classed the country as the “most significant long-term danger to our values and way of life”.
Chris Cash, director of the China Research Group (CRG) set up by Tory MPs in response to concerns about the country’s increasing power, told i that the UK “hasn’t moved quickly enough to respond to China, particularly in universities”.
“If something were to escalate in Taiwan, we would need to act very quickly,” he said. “At the very least, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should have been a wake-up call to British universities to address the huge vulnerabilites in our system.”
Growing concerns around Beijing have prompted many universities to launch recruitment drives to attract students from countries other than China.
Leading figures in the university sector have voiced concerns that a “catastrophic” collapse in relations with China could cause many UK institutions to go bust, since their current funding models are so dependent on Chinese students.
Adam Habib, the director of SOAS University of London, warned last week that if countries such as China and India were for some reason to “turn the taps off” and stop their students travelling abroad to study, it would cause “75 to 80 per cent” of British higher education institutions to “collapse”.
However, attempts to diversify university funding models away from China by luring students from other countries have been made more difficult by recent political rhetoric.
Mr Sunak and Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, have signalled that they may cap the number of dependents that international students can bring with them to the UK in a bid to reduce overall net migration.
No 10 said recently it would look at limiting visas for foreign students enrolling on “low-quality degrees” after net migration reached a record high of 504,000 in the year to June.
But Ms Stern told i that the move would “make Britain less competitive” on the international stage.
“This is a highly competitive field, and the major magnet countries for international students do allow students at postgraduate level to bring dependents, so it would be undermining our competitiveness,” she said.
“Basically every single parliamentary constituency has benefitted from having international students so I really hope that the Government will think very hard about anything that would damage that.”
Chinese students made up the largest percentage of foreign students who came to the UK in the year to June, but brought the smallest number of dependants with them. In total, 114,837 Chinese students came to study in Britain last year, bringing with them a total of 401 dependants.
By contrast, 34,031 Nigerian students came to the UK last year – seven per cent of the total figure – but brought 31,898 dependants with them.
i understands that Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, will stress the “soft power” benefits of foreign students as she resists the Home Secretary’s efforts to curb foreign student numbers.
Sources close to Ms Keegan told i that she was keen to combat efforts to reduce international student numbers and emphasise the “benefits foreign students bring to the UK, both financially and in terms of the UK’s reputation abroad”.