Over 20 British universities have pursued partnerships with a Chinese university linked to military research, despite security warnings from MI5 issued last year.
Defence experts have expressed concerns that UK institutions continue to expand their collaboration with Chinese engineering universities, even after an MI5 briefing last April cautioned against potential espionage risks.
Around seven British universities have signed agreements with Chinese counterparts considered at 'very high risk' of inadvertently assisting Chinese military research, according to The Times.
One Chinese university was specifically highlighted by MI5 as posing a significant security risk, yet 23 UK universities have established agreements with it regardless.
MI5 director-general Sir Ken McCallum warned vice-chancellors last April that hostile states could exploit sensitive academic research to undermine Britain's national security and strengthen their own militaries.
Although McCallum did not explicitly name China during the briefing, it followed an intelligence and security committee alert from Parliament in 2023, warning of China's disproportionate presence in British academic research.
Lord Beamish, chair of the intelligence and security committee, said: “In its 2023 China report the intelligence and security committee said academia was an easy option for China in terms of the theft of intellectual property.
“We called for a public register of universities accepting donations from China and increased monitoring by the state threats unit in the Home Office. These now need to be actioned as a matter of urgency.”
Luke de Pulford, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said universities had become “vulnerable to malign foreign interference”.
He added: “Competition for Chinese preferment has led to a race to the bottom, with universities feeling they have no choice but to take risks around UK intellectual property, the safety of students, academic freedom, and even UK national security.”
The Times’ investigation used freedom of information requests to ask all British universities what agreements they had signed with Chinese institutions since McCallum’s warning.
It found that five UK universities have partnered with institutions known as the “seven sons of national defence,” prominent in China’s defence industry. Two others had authorised deals with organisations classified as “very high risk”.
Queen Mary University of London has established two partnerships with Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU) in Xi’an, a member of the seven sons group. Agreements include establishing a joint engineering school.
Meanwhile, Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University entered into a partnership with NWPU, collaborating on research into aviation, space, and naval technology, despite a Chinese businessman previously pleading guilty in 2021 to smuggling marine technology from the US for NWPU.
Aberdeen University itself signed a joint engineering degree agreement with another of the seven sons, Harbin Engineering University, while the University of Strathclyde entered a teaching partnership with Nanjing University of Science and Technology, China’s leading university in armament science.
Imperial College London’s submissions revealed material science research with Shougang, a steel supplier for the Chinese military, ending next month. It is also continuing research with the US-sanctioned communications giant Huawei on video-generation technology until September next year.
A Russell Group spokesman said that its agreements with Chinese institutions were “delivering benefits for the UK” and added its “universities are alive to the risks involved”.
A Robert Gordon spokesman said: “When engaging internationally, we have stringent processes in place to assess the feasibility of a partnership, including risk assessments, seeking references, reviewing facilities, meeting with staff and students and identifying areas of collaboration of our degree programmes.”
Spokesmen from Aberdeen and Strathclyde universities stated they had “robust” procedures ensuring compliance with relevant legislation. Queen Mary University also said its partnerships aligned with legislation and official guidelines.
A government spokesperson said: “The UK was one of the first countries to implement measures to combat threats to research security in a targeted and measured way.
“We have a robust approach to risk in the research sector, ensuring that institutions are alert to security risks and able to make informed decisions when collaborating internationally, backed by the government’s comprehensive regulatory powers.”
