Summary

In late October 2020 China's Ministry of Education announced a list of 32 new Sino-foreign joint programmes at the bachelor's degree level and above, which were approved in the first half of 2020. The list included four UK partnerships, all at the bachelor’s degree level. 

The four approved UK partnerships are:

• a programme in clinical pharmacy between the University of Manchester and China Pharmaceutical University in Jiangsu province
• a programme in animation between the University of Wales Trinity St David and Fujian Jiangxia University
• a programme in digital media technology between the University of Chichester and Guangxi University of Finance and Economics
• a programme in software engineering between the University of West England and Neusoft Institute of Guangdong

Six of the 32 approved programmes involved US universities, while the other top partner countries included Italy with four newly approved programmes, Germany with three, and Russia and Spain with two each.

Looking at subject area, 18 of the newly approved partnerships - a little over half of the total - were in the broad field of engineering, which in China includes programmes related to computing. Other fields with multiple approved partnerships include six new programmes in arts and design, four in subjects related to medicine and two programmes in pre-school education.

The approvals listed above are all individual joint programmes rather than joint institutes offering multiple programmes. A number of media reports have stated that two new joint universities have also been approved by the Ministry of Education, both of which are branch campuses of Hong Kong HEIs; however, these approvals have not yet been officially announced.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst, International Education Services

The general trend of joint programme approvals is in line with existing Chinese government policy, with most new programmes being in areas that are seen as contributing to national development priorities. Looking at partner countries the major English-speaking destinations only represent a minority of new approvals which may indicate a trend towards diversification.

In general the Ministry of Education is reluctant to grant approval for full branch campuses / joint universities (as opposed to joint programmes or joint institutes without independent legal entity), and this is typically requires political input at the highest levels. Observers have linked the approval of Hong Kong universities' branch campuses to a wider policy of increasing links between the mainland and Hong Kong.

Sources

Ministry of Education Announcement on Sino-Foreign Joint Programme Approvals in the First Half of 2020: http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A20/moe_862/202011/t20201103_497975.html

Guangdong Province Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office - Ministry of Education encourages HK universities to establish branch campuses in Guangdong: http://hmo.gd.gov.cn/ygahz/content/post_3101400.html