Millions donated to Cambridge University from China

Since 2020, Cambridge University has received between £12 million and £19 million in donations, gifts, grants and funding from Chinese sources, leading some to raise concerns about rising Chinese influence in the UK higher education sector.

Cambridge received the second highest rate of donations from China of all 24 UK Russell Group universities, which according to a report by the Independent collectively received nearly £50 million from Chinese sources from 2020-2024.

Oxford was the only Russell Group university to attract more Chinese funding than Cambridge, bringing in £24 million from 2020-2024.

It has been estimated by dataHE that 25% of total tuition fee income at Russell Group universities come from Chinese students alone, with the International Higher Education Commission projecting that international student revenue will fund 50% of higher education costs by 2026.

The true value of funding received from China by Cambridge is unknown as the university provides only ranges for many of its funding amounts, but donors include entities linked to the People’s Liberation Army, and other groups sanctioned by the United States.

One such donor is Tianjin University, from which Cambridge has received £174,997. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has designated Tianjin University as “high risk” due to its connections to espionage and involvements in defence research, including for China’s Ministry of State Security.

The Institute of Geology and Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences also donated £204,000 in research grants to Cambridge in 2024. The associated University of the Chinese Academy of Science is home to China’s Missile Institute of the Military-Civilian Integration Development Centre.

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The growing connection between UK universities and China has been a cause for concern for some. Former Conservative party leader Sir Ian Duncan Smith has warned that British universities have become “completely dependent on Chinese money”, leading to “kowtowing towards China and its views”.

He also said that “China seeks sensitive information from the UK because of our intelligence links with the United States, and Beijing sees the university system as a vulnerable strand of British intelligence.”

In September, a group of Chinese students at Cambridge were told by the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang, that they should “serve the motherland as soon as they finish their studies”, and “take patriotism [for China] as the foundation” of their studies.

There are currently over 2,000 Chinese students studying at Cambridge, with 31.9% of offers to international undergraduate students in the 2023 application cycle going to students from China.

In response, a spokesperson from the University of Cambridge said “Less than 1% of our annual research grant is derived from China. All grants and donations from China are subject to robust scrutiny, backed by a specially formulated set of principles for managing risks in international engagements.”

With regard to the Institute of Geology research grant, the spokesperson said “The funding from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics was for research into understanding earthquakes, the data from which has potential societal value and we intend to make open source.”