China pressured British university to stop human rights research

China successfully put pressure on a British university to cease research into human rights abuses.

Sheffield Hallam University, a public research institute in South Yorkshire, ordered one of its most senior professors to halt her work on allegations of forced labour in the Xinjiang region of China.

Prof Laura Murphy, of the university’s Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, was told in February that her research into the alleged persecution of Uyghur Muslims must stop.

Sheffield Hallam claimed the decision was made because of administrative issues and denied that it was related to commercial interests.

After Prof Murphy threatened to pursue legal action, the university apologised. In October, it lifted restrictions on her research.

However, internal documents show that Sheffield Hallam has been concerned for a number of years that China’s criticism of its research was having an effect on lucrative Chinese student numbers.

The Helena Kennedy Centre has published several reports critical of China, including a significant piece of research by Prof Murphy in 2021 into Uyghur forced labour in the solar panel industry.

The Chinese government denies these practices occur and is critical of institutions that investigate such claims.

An internal Sheffield Hallam University email from August 2022, first reported by the BBC, said China’s foreign ministry had issued a statement “denouncing us as being in the ‘disreputable vanguard of anti-China rhetoric’”.

The email said the university’s enrolments from China had collapsed during the pandemic and failed to bounce back. It raised the alarm that Chinese government reproof could result in a “boycott” of the university by prospective applicants.

Official figures show the total number of Chinese students at Sheffield Hallam fell from 785 in 2017/18 to 280 in 2021/22, and has dropped to 170 last year.

The decline is thought to have put significant pressure on the university’s revenue streams, with Sheffield Hallam earning £3.8m from China and Hong Kong in 2021/22, according to the BBC.

Around the same time, Sheffield Hallam’s websites were blocked in China, effectively locking out prospective Chinese students from applying to the university through the usual route.

The institution said in internal communications that this had “undoubtedly had a negative impact on recruitment”, adding in an email in April 2024 that it expected the situation to worsen as “things in Beijing have kicked off”.

Three Chinese state security officers are understood to have visited Sheffield Hallam’s recruitment office in Beijing that month, where a local staff member was reportedly questioned for two hours about the Helena Kennedy Centre.

The internal documents were obtained by Prof Murphy through a request for personal information to the university. They revealed that Sheffield Hallam officials said in July 2024 that “attempting to retain the business in China and publication of the research are now untenable bedfellows”.

A subsequent email between Sheffield Hallam officials in September 2024 said that “a decision by the university not to publish a final phase of the research on forced labour in China was communicated to the [Chinese] National Security Service”.

It added that “immediately relations improved and the threat to staff wellbeing appears to be removed”.

Sheffield Hallam claimed the internal communications cited were out of context and did not represent university policy. It insisted Prof Murphy’s research was now available on the university’s website in accordance with normal practice.

China experts claimed the incident was the first public example of Beijing using student numbers as direct political leverage over a British university.

Luke de Pulford, the director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, told The Telegraph: “The case represents an unprecedented capitulation of UK academic freedom to foreign state coercion, with implications for all universities reliant on international student income.

“UK universities make a loss on every domestic student. They are exposed to authoritarian influence through their dependence on foreign fees. The Hallam case shows that they cannot defend academic freedom alone.”

He urged the Government to issue guidance for universities on how to deal with pressure from foreign states, as well as a secure reporting channel for academics and their institutions.

On Monday, Downing Street said ministers raised concerns with Beijing about the pressure it placed on the university.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman told reporters: “It is absolutely unacceptable for any foreign state to intimidate, harass or harm individuals in the UK, and the freedom and independence of our academic institutions is sacrosanct.

“In June, the Office for Students [OfS] introduced new guidance to make clear universities shouldn’t tolerate attempts by foreign states to suppress freedom of speech and academic freedom, and even before this, universities were instructed that any action undermining academic freedom or institutional autonomy was unacceptable.

“After learning of this case, Government ministers raised it with Beijing, and we welcome the university’s decision to support this research.

“This is in line with the consistent, long-term strategic approach we’re taking to managing relations with China, rooted in UK and global interests. We will co-operate where we can, but we will always challenge where we must.”

The Telegraph revealed earlier this year that UK universities were increasingly seeking out Chinese students, who typically pay double the domestic rate, despite being urged to wean themselves off money from Beijing.

Universities’ financial accounts for 2023/24 show almost a third of the entire income of some institutions comes from Chinese students. In total, Chinese students brought in about £5.5bn in fees across 158 universities last year – or around 10 per cent of all university income from tuition fees.

This is despite universities being told to reduce their reliance on Chinese students over national security concerns.

The OfS wrote to a number of institutions with large proportions of Chinese students in 2023, urging them to draw up contingency plans in case of a sudden interruption to overseas recruitment.

The universities watchdog said such interruptions could come from “a changing geopolitical environment which could cause an immediate and significant impact on income” – widely interpreted as a potential souring of relations with Beijing.

The OfS will now oversee a package of new free speech protections for universities in England, which came into force this summer.

However, tough new laws aimed at cracking down on Chinese influence at British universities were removed by the Labour Government after Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, said she needed “more time to consider” them.

That decision is now coming under scrutiny amid fears that the UK is pursuing a closer relationship with China despite recent high-profile allegations of espionage and political influence.

A spokesman for Sheffield Hallam University said: “The university’s decision to not continue with Prof Laura Murphy’s research was taken based on our understanding of a complex set of circumstances at the time, including being unable to secure the necessary professional indemnity insurance.

“Following a review, we have since approved Prof Murphy’s latest research and are committed to supporting her to undertake and disseminate this important work.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the decision was not based on commercial interests in China. Regardless, China is not a significant international student market for the university.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]