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The foreign affairs select committee is drawing up plans to examine Chinese government interference in academia as part of its inquiry into the UK’s strategy towards Beijing.
MPs are broadening the scope of their investigation into the China audit, an internal government review of UK-China relations that concluded in June, to look into Chinese state influence at British universities.
Ministers are under pressure to take a more robust approach after the Guardian disclosed that Sheffield Hallam University had blocked the work of a professor whose work was critical of China’s human rights record.
Sheffield Hallam banned one of its most prominent professors, Laura Murphy, from continuing with her work on China-linked supply chains, after years of pressure from the Chinese government.
Murphy’s work focuses on Uyghurs, a persecuted Muslim minority in China, being co-opted into forced labour programmes. The Chinese government rejects accusations of forced labour, claiming Uyghur work programmes are for poverty alleviation.
In October, Sheffield Hallam lifted the ban, and apologised to Murphy. But the case has caused widespread alarm about the influence of the Chinese government on UK universities, both in the form of specific threats and fears of losing access to the lucrative market of Chinese international students.
Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said: “From what we have heard so far, Chinese government interference in our universities is a threat. We need to examine the extent of it and universities should have a co-ordinated response to it”.
Last week, the Sheffield Hallam branch of the University and College Union (UCU) and the national executive committee of the UCU passed motions calling for a “full public inquiry” into the events at Sheffield Hallam. The motions also called for a government-led review into the ways in which commercial considerations are eroding academic free speech.
Similar motions are expected to be tabled at regional UCU branches in the coming weeks.
Bob Jeffrey, a branch officer for the Sheffield Hallam UCU, said: “Laura’s case really resonates with UCU members”. Academics in the UK have spoken out about “extremely heaving” pressure from Beijing in the wake of the revelations about Sheffield Hallam.
Internal emails from Sheffield Hallam revealed that Murphy’s work and the university’s business interests in China were considered to be “untenable bedfellows”. The university said the emails did not represent university policy and that the decision to block Murphy’s research was not based on commercial interests.
Separately, Sheffield Hallam has been referred to counter-terrorism police over concerns that it assisted a foreign intelligence service, in this case China, when it blocked Murphy’s research.
Staff at Sheffield Hallam are going on strike on Tuesday in response to concerns about job cuts and the university’s handling of Murphy’s case.
Jo Grady, the general secretary of the UCU, said: “It is incredibly worrying that Sheffield Hallam appears to have attempted to silence its own professor on behalf of a foreign government”.
There has been growing concern for years that the higher education sector’s dependence on international student fees from China is a vulnerability for universities.
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There were nearly 150,000 Chinese students in the UK in the 2023-24 academic year. They pay billions in tuition fees, which many universities see as an economic lifeline.
Collaboration with Chinese students is also seen as beneficial to the UK’s own research output, particularly in science and technology fields, although some have warned of the security risks of certain types of joint research projects.
In 2023, parliament’s intelligence and security committee warned that China could gain political influence and economic advantages in the UK by “controlling the narrative of debate about China within UK universities” by exerting influence on academics and Chinese students.
The UK ranks at the top of a list of countries affected by Chinese government influence in academia on the China Index, a project by Doublethink Lab that monitors Chinese overseas influence.
Beijing has reacted strongly to the reports about Sheffield Hallam, with one article in the state-run Global Times stating: “Western scholars essentially only have the freedom to express anti-China sentiments, not the right to conduct free research”.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said: “China firmly opposes activities by any institution or individual to slander and smear China by fabricating falsehoods and spreading lies.
“The individual concerned has herself admitted to the media that she received funding and support from US government agencies and other sources to conduct this so-called ‘research’, which specifically aims at attacking China’s Xinjiang policies. It is evident that what she is doing is part of the disgraceful political campaign of defaming China under the disguise of ‘academic freedom’ or ‘freedom of speech’.”
Additional research by Lillian Yang
