Concerns over Chinese ‘dependence’ as Russell Group universities supported by £50m of Chinese funding

Russell Group universities are “completely dependent” on Chinese investment, experts have warned, after receiving nearly £50 million from Chinese sources over the past four years.

A series of Freedom of Information requests sent to Russell Group universities revealed that institutions are heavily reliant on foreign investment at a time when increasing scrutiny is being placed on Beijing’s influence in the UK.

Experts and analysts have expressed concerns that the influx of Chinese investment in British universities is stifling free speech and debate over China’s controversies, despite the UK increasingly becoming a target for Beijing to increase its global influence.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Co-Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China and MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, told The Independent: “This [influence] is not an accident, rather, it is intentional.”

Out of the 24 Russell Group institutions, Oxford and Cambridge received the most donations […] including money from banned telecommunications company Huawei Technologies

He added: “China seeks sensitive information from the UK because of our intelligence links with the United States, and Beijing sees the university system as a vulnerable strand of British intelligence.”

Out of the 24 Russell Group institutions, Oxford and Cambridge received the most donations, gifts, and funding from Chinese sources, including money from banned telecommunications company Huawei Technologies.

A 2023 report by The Times detailed that the University of Cambridge received more than £26 million in funding from Huawei, a Chinese company considered by the UK government to be a risk to national security for their research into sensitive areas including artificial intelligence and mobile network technologies.

The exact value of wider Chinese investment into Cambridge is unknown, as the university provided ranges for several of its funding amounts. Between 2020 and 2024, the donation value accepted by Cambridge could be anywhere between £12 million and £19 million.

Oxford received £24 million of Chinese funding in the same period, including £1.8 million from Sichuan University, which has been designated as “very high risk” by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute over its relationship with China’s nuclear weapons programme.

The Chinese regime is laser-focused on using academic partnerships to further its military modernisation

Sam Dunning, Director of UK-China Transparency

While spokespeople for the universities have stated that the funding does not influence how academics conduct their research and that each significant donation must be approved by a committee, worries remain among experts and the public.

Sam Dunning, Director of the UK-China Transparency think tank, told The Independent: “The Chinese regime is laser-focused on using academic partnerships to further its military modernisation. Research that seems to be innocuous can have unforeseen military uses.”

Dunning continued his concerns over China’s involvement in British universities, adding: “British universities need to be awake to the reality of Xi Jinping’s China today.”