UK universities have been told by the government to step up their defences against intimidation and censorship from China and other states, as the security services launch an advisory scheme for threatened researchers.
The Cabinet Office will this week set up a centralised route to report attempts at academic interference as it warned that the higher education sector was a “prime target for foreign states”.
Sir Ken McCallum, director-general of MI5, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, told a meeting of more than 70 vice-chancellors last week that China and other states were attempting to influence universities’ research and teaching.
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The move to curb intimidation and censorship follows outrage last year over Chinese attempts to stop research at Sheffield Hallam University into alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Staff at the university raised concerns about publishing research into forced labour after Beijing blocked access to its websites and the institution’s office in China was visited by “threatening” security officials.
Laura Murphy, professor of human rights and contemporary slavery, initiated legal proceedings against the university, which insisted its decision was not based on a commercial interest in attracting lucrative Chinese students.
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