LONDON: A report has found out that universities in the United Kingdom (UK) are not responding to the growing risk of China as well as other ‘autocracies’ influencing academic freedom in the UK.
According to the foreign affairs select committee report, which was rushed out before the UK parliament is suspended pending the election, there have been several instances of ‘alarming evidence’ of Chinese interference on UK colleges.
Many activities seem to be coordinated by the Chinese Embassy in London that restrict academic freedom, the report said.
According to the report, there has been evidence that autocracies are trying to shape the curricula and research agenda of the UK universities, and endeavoring to limit the activities of researchers on university campuses.
The parliamentary committee has also accused a number of academic organizations, including the Million Plus that represents 20 modern universities, of complacency.
The concerned authorities are not able to do enough to protect academic freedom from political, financial, and diplomatic pressure, the report says.
The foreign affairs select committee has also pointed at the role of China-funded Confucious Institutes officials in seizing papers at an academic conference that mentioned Taiwan as an instrument of political interference and evidence that dissidents active while studying in the UK.
Several Uighur Muslim students were being monitored and her family in China being harassed, the report said.
The parliamentary committee has also accused a number of academic organizations, including the Million Plus that represents 20 modern universities, of complacency.
Bill Rammell, the chair of Million Plus, said in the committee that he was unaware of ‘hearing one piece of evidence’ that substantiated the claims of foreign influence in UK universities.
The report said that the Foreign Office’s evidence to the committee has emphasized the lack of government advice to universities.
The report has also talked about a 2019 international education strategy white paper that mentions China more than two dozen times in the context of boosting education expertise to the Chinese market. (Agencies)
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