Page 61 - EducationWorld September 2020

exercise for universities and UCAS because “substituting
one set of results for another for around 300,000 students
is a huge task”.
Even without a numbers cap, several people in the sector
have warned that many universities might find it impossible
to accept all students given physical constraints in some
courses and accommodation considerations, especially as
social distancing has to be maintained on campus.
Matthew Andrews, university secretary and registrar at
the University of Gloucestershire, says it “will be the case”
that some courses around the country won’t be able to take
more applicants this year. “There are some courses that will
simply be full and no matter how good-willed people are,
you can’t just fit more people in,” he says.

GERMANY Hamburg University: Confucius Institute shutdown order
Trojan horse fears Carsten Krause, director of the Hamburg Confucius

THE UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG HAS decided Institute, did not address this incident when contacted by
to cut ties with its Confucius Institute (more than TH E. “We absolutely regret the ‘concern’ by the University
500 institutes have been established by commu- of Hamburg, and we especially regret... its lack of conversa-
nist China around the world to teach Chinese language and tion about such a concern,” he said.
culture) over fears that Beijing could use it as “propaganda As tensions between China and the West have risen this
instrument”, in the latest sign of a more wary stance in Ger- year over concerns ranging from Hong Kong’s new security
many towards Chinese government influence on campuses. law to the use of Huawei technology in digital infrastruc-
Compared with the US, German institutions have until now ture, Germany’s government had struck a relatively muted
taken a more relaxed approach, but a number of scandals tone, emphasising continued economic ties with its largest
involving perceived threats to academic freedom seems to trading partner. But there are signs the issue is now rising
have changed the debate. up the agenda among German universities. In February, it
Hamburg would have been “blind” not to notice “the emerged that the Free University of Berlin had accepted
quite critical view of Confucius Institutes in other coun- hundreds of thousands of euros from the Chinese govern-
tries and the fear — perceived or real — that the institutes ment to set up a professorship and had signed a contract
are used or misused as propaganda instruments”, Court- binding it to Chinese law, risking its academic indepen-
ney Peltzer-Honicke, head of the university’s department of dence, in the eyes of critics.
international affairs, told Times H igher Education. “Obvi-
ously that’s something that has no place at a university,” CHINA
she says. “We do not want any government organisation Internationalisation problems
influencing what our researchers and students work on.”
Although the rationale of Confucius Institutes is that they CHINESE UNIVERSITIES MUST BETTER inte-
teach Chinese language and culture, they have been dogged grate overseas students on their campuses and give
by accusations of meddling in academic freedom and sev- them the freedom to develop a sense of responsi-
eral universities have cut ties in recent years, chiefly in the bility if the country is to realise its goal of becoming the larg-
US. Sweden shut the last of its institutes earlier this year. est provider of international education this half-century,
The risk of Confucius Institutes is that they limit — or says a new study.
are put under pressure to limit — free discussion of topics The paper, which is based on insights from Chinese uni-
such as the Tiananmen Square protests, Taiwanese inde- versity staff after they had been exposed to international
pendence or Tibet, argues Peltzer-Honicke. Hamburg’s de- education practices in Canada, highlights how institutions
cision to withdraw from the association underpinning the in mainland China tend to treat international students as
institute, which will come into effect next year, is not related “a separate cohort”. Instead of being admitted by an aca-
to any specific recent incident, she explains. “It’s more of a demic department, they are usually enrolled in a faculty
general pre-emptive measure, looking at other countries.” of international education, which “houses all international
However, six years ago the institute’s Chinese co-director students under one roof” and as such, “becomes a silo or
was unexpectedly recalled to China after the institute hosted a small campus within a big campus”, according to the
an event on the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square research. This is further reinforced by the fact that inter-
protests, she recalls. national students have separate accommodation because

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