We’re not facing going bust, says university
FEARS RAISED OVER POTENTIAL IMPACT OF LOSING CHINESE STUDENTS
THE University of Manchester denies it faces bankruptcy if Chinese students stop coming to the UK to study.
The Oxford Road institution has been revealed as one of nine universities that relies on Chinese students for more than a fifth of their total tuition income.
Ministers in the UK are said to be braced for a £50bn in lost investment across the UK as tensions rise with China.
One minster told a national newspaper that officials were ‘s***ing themselves’ about the Chinese student population, which accounts for £1.7billion annually.
Beijing has previously used students as a way of exerting political pressure. It banned students from going to Taiwan in April and issued a warning against studying in Australia last month.
Politicians fear that the UK education system could be hit in the same way should relations crumble.
University College London tops the list as the university taking in the most income from Chinese students at £127m, followed by the University of Manchester’s 5,605 students delivering £110m. Chinese students are understood to make up 14pc of the university’s population.
Bosses have vehemently denied the institution is facing bankruptcy, and said it was always ‘open and transparent’ with its finances.
However, a spokesman admitted it was facing financial difficulties due to the coronavirus pandemic.
They said: “The University of Manchester is categorically not facing bankruptcy. While, like all universities and many other organisations, we face financial challenges due to the Covid19 pandemic, we have put in place robust plans so that we can continue to provide a great experience to our students and carry out our world-class research.
“As a university we are always open and transparent with our finances and report them publicly in our annual financial statements. This transparency has remained through the ongoing pandemic as we continue to provide our university community with honest assessments and forecasts of our current fiscal position.”
The threat of Chinese withdrawal of investment in British universities’ research comes after it emerged that Beijing could target British businesses operating in China.
Leaders of UK businesses in Beijing were summoned to a meeting where they were apparently told by a Chinese government official that their operations could suffer because of growing tensions with Britain.