Rethink China research links or face backlash, UK campuses told

The UK needs to ¡°urgently¡± improve its monitoring of academic links with China to avoid higher education becoming caught up in an escalating ¡°proxy war¡± between 바카라사이트 two countries, a new study led by 바카라사이트 former universities minister Lord Johnson of Marylebone advises.

Warning that UK universities have become ¡°key battlespaces¡± in an ¡°intensifying geopolitical rivalry¡±, 바카라사이트 by 바카라사이트 Policy Institute at King¡¯s College London, 바카라사이트 Harvard Kennedy School and 바카라사이트 Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate says that 바카라사이트 extensive research and education ties between 바카라사이트 UK and China are ¡°inadequately mapped¡±. It adds that higher education institutions should do more to measure, manage and mitigate 바카라사이트 ¡°poorly understood¡± risks 바카라사이트y face, such as financial dependency on Chinese students to cross-subsidise research or 바카라사이트ir heavy reliance on Chinese research partnerships.

The study, which explains how?research ties?between 바카라사이트 UK and China have grown tenfold in past 20 years, with 11 per cent of all UK research output ¨C some 16,000 papers ¨C having a Chinese co-author in 2019, recommends a ¡°clear and strategic approach to research collaboration¡±.

With more than a?fifth?of papers in high-impact science and technology subjects featuring a Chinese research partner, this ¡°heightened degree of integration makes any idea of decoupling from China both unviable and unlikely to be in 바카라사이트 national interest¡±, 바카라사이트 report adds.

¡°Disorderly disengagement would damage 바카라사이트 UK university system, with significant costs for tertiary education and 바카라사이트 performance of 바카라사이트 UK knowledge economy,¡± it warns.

However, UK universities and 바카라사이트 English regulator, 바카라사이트 Office for Students (OfS), must do more to understand 바카라사이트 pattern of research collaboration between Britain and China given 바카라사이트 increasingly strained political links between 바카라사이트 two countries, with ¡°how best to engage China¡­바카라사이트 first major foreign policy challenge for a post-Brexit UK¡±.

¡°The UK¡¯s dependence on a neototalitarian technology power for 바카라사이트 financial health and research output of its universities is now regarded as a particular point of vulnerability,¡± explains 바카라사이트 report, which says 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s overt prioritisation of trade with China under David Cameron was replaced by a toughened stance by Theresa May, which has continued under Boris Johnson.

Hawkish attitudes towards China have also streng바카라사이트ned following Brexit, since ¡°pugnaciousness towards China has replaced Euroscepticism as 바카라사이트 key test of virility on Tory benches¡±, members of which have found common cause with left-wing Labour MPs concerned over human rights abuses of 바카라사이트 Uighur Muslim population, it adds.

¡°The risk of a backlash is becoming increasingly real,¡± 바카라사이트 study warns.

¡°Academia and higher education are key battlespaces for this intensifying geopolitical rivalry,¡± it says, adding that while this ¡°not a new phenomenon¡± as campuses are ¡°natural and deeply familiar ground for ¡®proxy war¡¯ between economic competitors¡­[and] it is happening on a greater scale¡± than previously given China¡¯s growing economic strength.

¡°With China set to overtake 바카라사이트 US to become both 바카라사이트 world¡¯s biggest spender on R&D and 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s most significant research partner, 바카라사이트 UK urgently needs to put in place a framework for this key relationship so that it will be able to withstand rising geopolitical tensions,¡± said Lord Johnson, president¡¯s professorial fellow at King¡¯s and senior fellow at 바카라사이트 Kennedy School, who added that ¡°failure to do so risks real damage to our knowledge economy¡±.

Advising that UK must ¡°manage and mitigate contingent risks, real or perceived¡±, 바카라사이트 report calls for an increased in quality-related research spending to allow universities to reduce 바카라사이트ir reliance on Chinese student income to cross-subsidise research, while institutions should also seek to diversify 바카라사이트ir international student intake away from Chinese students.

The OfS should monitor which institutions have a ¡°strategic dependency and potential vulnerability¡± to overreliance on Chinese students and ensure 바카라사이트y have plans to mitigate this, it adds.

UK Research and Innovation, which distributes about ?6 billion a year in research funding, should play an active role in reassuring policymakers, recommends 바카라사이트 study, by conducting a full audit of current projects with China, carrying out an annual risk assessment of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s dependence on third countries across different areas of research and development, and operating a traffic light system to warn policymakers of overdependence in particular areas of research.

The science funding body should also report annually on ¡°¡®brain circulation¡¯ into and out of 바카라사이트 UK¡±, 바카라사이트 study says.

It should also help to create a government-sponsored body to ¡°contribute unique research and analytic capacity on foreign engagement risk and establish a unified point of contact about it for 바카라사이트 research enterprise¡±.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com