UK Secretary of State for Education, the Rt Hon Justine Greening MP, today (6 December) agreed a joint ‘Action Plan’ on UK-China education collaboration with her counterpart Mr Chen Baosheng, China’s Minister of Education, at the ninth annual UK-China Education Summit in Shanghai, China.

The Action Plan sets out the priority areas of UK-China education collaboration beyond 2016 with the objective of supporting a golden era in UK-China relations. The agreement will see both countries working together across basic education; higher education, including quality assurance; technical and professional education and training; sports education and training; language teaching and assessment; and two-way exchanges among students and education practitioners.

Examples of work that will be pursued in these areas include:

  • boosting business–education links to accelerate the development of skills and qualifications in priority industry sectors;
  • increasing collaboration on innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education, including the creation of subject excellence clusters and regional partnerships;
  • working together on school curriculum development, such as by supporting and placing language assistants in schools to support the learning of Chinese Mandarin in the UK and English in China.

Furthermore, it was agreed to continue the UK-China Mathematics Teacher Exchange Programme for a further two years. This will see up to 140 maths teachers from England spending time in Shanghai to support their professional development and the translation of Shanghai’s high-quality approach to mathematics teaching into a meaningful model for schools in England.

Both the Action Plan and the continuation of the maths teacher exchange will be signed at the fourth UK-China High-Level People-to-People Dialogue, which the Secretary of State is attending as part of her first overseas trip since taking office. By providing a platform to celebrate collaboration between both countries and set shared objectives for the future, the Dialogue is a key pillar in the UK-China bilateral relationship.

Various other agreements were signed during the two-day visit (see annex for details), representing both countries’ commitment to expanding collaboration across higher and school education, including languages, and to working closely together in supporting student mobility in both directions.

Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening said:

“The UK and China share many priorities in the field of education, and we both recognise and highly value the benefits of international collaboration. Today’s agreements demonstrate our ongoing commitment to working together to build on the strong foundation we have laid over the past decades. As our bilateral relationship develops, the outcomes of today’s agreements, by providing us with opportunities to share ideas and expertise, will allow us to prosper together.‎”

NOTES TO EDITORS

About the UK-China Education Summit

The UK-China Education Summit is a ministerial level meeting that convenes annually to review the education relationship between the UK and China, and to agree further strategies to deepen and broaden collaboration. The two countries also use the Summit to re-affirm their commitments to enhancing international collaboration in education through building long-term mutually agreed and beneficial partnerships. It is one of the eight policy strands that together constitute the annual UK-China High-Level People-to-People Dialogue.

About the UK-China High Level People to People Dialogue (P2P)

The P2P is one of the UK’s three major Ministerial dialogues with China, along with the Economic and Financial Dialogue and Strategic Dialogue. It covers eight policy strands: education, science, health, tourism, sport, culture and creative industries, youth, regional cooperation, bringing together key themes of creativity, social equity and women’s equality.

The P2P is chaired by Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt on the UK side and Vice Premier Madame Liu Yandong on the Chinese side. The UK official delegation in 2016 includes Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities, Justine Greening; Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Karen Bradley; Northern Ireland First Minister, Arlene Foster; and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor John Loughhead.

ANNEX - Signings at UK-China Education Summit

EDUCATION

Action Plan under the UK-China Partners in Education Framework

Agreement to operationalise the UK-China Partners in Education Framework, signed in September 2015 between then Minister of State for Universities and Science, Jo Johnson, and China’s former Minister for Education, Yuan Guiren. The Action Plan sets out the priority areas of UK-China education collaboration beyond 2016 across all areas of education, including: basic education, higher education, technical and professional education and training, sports education, language teaching and learning, and exchanges.

Memorandum of Understanding between the UK Department for Education and Shanghai Municipal Education Commission to continue the UK-China Mathematics Teacher Exchange during 2016/17 and 2017/18, supporting up to 70 teachers from England and up to 70 teachers from Shanghai in spending time in each other’s countries each year. This will strengthen UK-China collaboration in mathematics and teacher exchange, supporting the introduction of high-quality mathematics teaching approaches into English schools more widely.

Memorandum of Understanding between the British Council and the Confucius Institute Headquarters to further promote cultural exchange, educational collaboration, and language learning between the UK and China, including the development of locally based Mandarin teachers in the UK school system, and work together towards delivering the Department for Education’s Mandarin Excellence Programme, which aims to put 5,000 students on track towards a high level of fluency in Mandarin.

Memorandum of Understanding between University College London and Shanghai Normal University to explore opportunities for collaboration in the area of education and social sciences.

SPORT EDUCATION

Memorandum of Understanding between the British Council, the Premier League, the English Football Association, the Federation of University Sports of China, and the China School Sports Federation to jointly develop a UK-China Campus Football Coach Training Framework over the next four years.

Memorandum of Understanding between the British Council and the Federation of University Sports of China to co-host the 3rd UK-China University Sports Week in 2017, in order to promote exchanges in the field of university sports and support joint UK-China sports education development.

ENGLISH

Memorandum of Understanding between the British Council and China’s National Education Examinations Authority to conduct collaborative research on linking UK English tests to China’s Standards of English.