Summary

In late April, China's Ministry of Education gave approval for a total of 19 new Sino-foreign joint institutes to provide transnational education programmes at the bachelor's degree level and above. Along with the two other joint institutes approved earlier in 2020, this is already the largest number of joint institutes (as opposed to individual joint programmes) the country has approved in any single year.

Most of the new partnerships will offer bachelor's degree courses. Only one is a dedicated graduate school, while seven will offer both bachelor's and master's (and in some cases PhD) courses. The majority of programmes will be in the broad field of engineering (an area which in the Chinese subject classification includes computer science), either as an exclusive focus or alongside courses in the sciences, agriculture, or specialised administration or arts programmes in subjects such as engineering management, logistics management or digital media arts. Only four of the 21 newly-approved institutes will not offer any engineering programmes: two will offer medical programmes, while the remaining two will specialise in music and auditing respectively.

The new partnerships include six partnerships between Chinese and UK university partners - more than any other country in the current batch of approvals. Five US-China partnerships have also been approved so far in 2020, as well as three that involve Australian institutions, two each for France, Ireland and Ukraine, and one involving a Canadian university.

Looking specifically at UK partnerships, the list of approvals includes:

• Bathurst Future Agri-Tech Institute of Qingdao Agricultural University (UK partner: Royal Agricultural University)
• Brunel London School at the North China University of Technology (UK partner: Brunel University London)
• Manchester Metropolitan Joint Institute, Hubei University (UK partner: Manchester Metropolitan University)
• Southampton Ocean Engineering Joint Institute at Harbin Engineering University (UK partner: University of Southampton)
• Sussex Artificial Intelligence Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University (UK partner: University of Sussex)
• The Scotland Academy at Wuxi Taihu University (UK partner: University of the West of Scotland)

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst, British Council International Education Services

Transnational education in China consists of three types of partnership: Joint institutes with independent legal entity and degree-awarding powers (also known as joint universities or branch campuses), joint institutes without independent legal entity, and individually-approved joint programmes. All of the newly-approved partnerships are joint institutes without independent legal entity, which offer multiple related courses leading to degrees awarded by the Chinese and/or overseas partner institutions.

The number of approvals so far in 2020 is already higher than the 14 joint institutes approved in 2016 and 2019, which were previously the joint-highest years for joint institute approvals. This reflects an increasing trend towards approval of joint institutes offering several different degree programmes rather than individual joint programme approvals. Joint programme approvals for 2020 have not yet been announced so it is not possible to compare this year's trends, but the rate of joint programme approvals has been roughly flat in recent years.

Similarly, the focus on engineering partnerships reflects an ongoing preference for partnerships which contribute to China's development needs, with most engineering-related subjects classed as priorities whereas it is harder for partnerships in other fields such as business to receive approval.

Although the long-term effects of the COVID-19 epidemic are not yet clear, many observers believe that this will lead to a reduction in Chinese students going abroad, which may increase the attractiveness of overseas degrees delivered within China. Formal transnational education partnerships are the only way to legally provide this, as overseas institutions are not permitted to teach their own programmes in China without a local partner and franchised programmes leading to an overseas degree are also not allowed. However, there are strict regulations for approval and for minimum input from overseas partners.

Sources

There is no single announcement for all of 2020's joint institute approvals. However, partnerships are listed on the Ministry of Education's website at http://www.crs.jsj.edu.cn/index/sort/1006 (in Chinese)