Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) ensure that academic (i) funding and (ii) other resources are not used to support Chinese state surveillance and (b) protect universities from national security risks.

The UK welcomes international partnerships and students, including those from China, who make a very positive impact on the UK’s higher education (HE) sector, economy and society as a whole. However, the UK will always protect its national security interests, human rights and values.

​​There are a set of measures that protect against undue foreign interference in UK universities. These include the Academic Technology Approval Scheme, which vets students and researchers seeking to study in sensitive areas, as well as the provisions of the Education Act 1986, which require HE providers to uphold freedom of speech within the law for staff, students and visiting speakers. In England, all registered providers must uphold applicable public interest governance principles in order to meet the regulatory requirements of the Office for Students, including principles on academic freedom and accountability, such as operating openly and with integrity.

The government also offers practical advice through the National Protective Security Authority, the National Cyber Security Centre and the Research Collaboration and Advice Team (RCAT) to support the HE sector with maximising the opportunities of international collaboration, whilst also managing the risks. The department works alongside these partners and engages directly with the sector to increase their understanding of the risks and their ability to respond to them.

​​The National Security Act 2023 further strengthened the UK’s legal powers to counter foreign interference, including those actions which amount to transnational repression, and provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with additional tools to deter, detect and disrupt modern-day state threats.

​This government will take a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in UK and global interests. We will cooperate where we can, compete where we need to, and challenge where we must. The department is contributing towards the government’s audit of the UK’s relationship with China as a bilateral and global actor, to improve the UK’s ability to understand and respond to the challenges and opportunities China poses.