News
New UK-China Consortium of Universities
A new consortium of universities has been established to develop educational links between the UK and China. The consortium is comprised of 20 Chinese universities and 30 British universities, all committed to working together to promote educational collaboration and exchange.
The UK-China Consortium has been established within the context of the UK Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell’s recent announcement to enhance partnerships between the UK and China. The development of the new consortium has been spearheaded by the Wales International Consortium (WIC), an organisation responsible for promoting Wales to international students. WIC will play a pivotal role in developing the activities of the UK-China consortium, bringing benefit to the 10 university institutions in Wales involved in the consortium.
This year, higher education in Wales attracted nearly 2000 full time Chinese students. However, the Chinese market is changing rapidly and every year more Chinese students are opting to study UK qualifications delivered partly the UK and partly in China as part of university partnership agreements. The new UK-China Consortium is intended to support Chinese students by providing further partnership links between universities in the UK and China.
The UK-China Consortium will be driven by key figures in higher education. Within the UK, the Chair of the consortium is held by the Right Honourable Baroness Tessa Blackstone, Vice Chancellor of the University of Greenwich, Labour Party Peer and former Education Minister. On the Chinese side, the Chair is held by Mr. Li Wangrong, Principal of the Foundation College of the China Scholarships Council, with Dr. Ma Liang, Deputy Principal of the Foundation College of the China Scholarships Council, as Deputy Chair of the consortium in China.
Ms. Virginia West, Director of the Wales International Consortium and newly appointed Deputy Chairperson in the UK for the UK-China Consortium said “The activities of the new consortium will promote educational links and partnership developments between universities in the UK and China. We hope it will provide a vehicle for thousands of Chinese students to study for jointly accredited UK and Chinese qualifications. It’s a cost-effective solution for Chinese students and will open up some wonderful study and research opportunities for scholars in both countries”
The UK-China Consortium is well supported both financially and politically and has attracted major investment from the Beijing UK Education and Training Centre and the Beijing Yinhong International Consultancy Corporation. It is endorsed by ministers and headed by education experts in both countries and has appointed several full-time members of staff.
Further Notes
Bill Rammell, Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education.
Thursday 25 May 2006
“There are 160 links between our universities and those in China, and 53,000 students from China studying in the UK. This month, I visited China with three vice-chancellors to explore the scope for greater collaboration. We have expanded the scholarships for excellence programme, and the second phase of the Prime Minister's initiative for international education will enable us to extend and deepen our higher education partnerships with China”.
Rammell Strengthens Education Links with China
Liz Ford
Wednesday April 5, 2006
Chinese graduates will be invited to spend a year working with British businesses through a scheme announced yesterday by education ministers from the UK and China.
Under the UK/China graduate work experience programme, UK universities would run orientation courses for the graduates and help them secure work placements. A number of institutions have already expressed interest in the idea, including Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham and London's University of the Arts.
Ministers also announced the expansion of the scholarships for excellence scheme, an exchange programme that allows Chinese researchers to undertake PhD and postdoctorate research at British universities.
The programme, jointly funded by the Department for Education and Skills and the Chinese Ministry of Education, will send 50 Chinese researchers to the UK and five British scholars to China over the next academic year.
Discussions were also held on recognising academic qualifications and cooperating on language teaching.
The announcements came at the second annual UK-China education summit, held in London yesterday and attended by the higher education minister, Bill Rammell, and the Chinese vice-minister for education, Zhao Quinping.
The education summits, the first of which was held in Beijing in February last year, aim to promote academic, cultural and business exchanges between the two countries.
China is becoming a serious competitor in the global market for students. While the country sends more students to study in the UK than any other non-EU country, numbers are declining. Some universities registered a 50% drop last year. It is thought that more Chinese students are heading elsewhere or staying at home to study.
The country is also beginning to poach overseas students from its neighbours in Japan, India and Korea, prompting concerned UK universities, which have always considered the US and Australia to be their greatest rivals for overseas students, to look for partnerships with Chinese institutions and set up their own campuses in the country.
Yesterday, Mr Rammell said education was "at the heart of the UK's developing relationship with China".
"Both China and the UK attach great importance to building links between business and education and we now need to do this on a global basis," he said.
"We have committed both of our countries to work closely together to plan the next phase of our relationship, which will include exchanging our shared experience as we develop national strategies in the lifelong learning and skills and the promotion of language teaching in both China and the UK, as well as the study of each other's culture and societies."
The outcome of the summit received endorsement from the Conservative party's higher education spokesman, Boris Johnson.
Currently visiting China to find out about the country's education system, Mr Johnson said: "I am seeing for myself the huge potential benefits that exist if we get this right, and I look forward to continuing to develop Conservative policy in this crucial area."