There’s two contemporary concerns about the status of China in UK universities – one about finances and one about soft power.
Both these encompass every aspect of what a university does, but the focus on students ties in to the archetypal UK political concerns around immigration, and has (until very recently) dominated debates.
When we think about financial power we tend to think about recruitment – with overseas students not subject to fee caps and with China being a common source of international students there is a large proportion of the income of some providers that can be attributed to China. Though some people (including the Home Secretary) see this as an immigration issue, for Chinese students a stay in the UK is focused almost entirely – as we shall see – on study.
