LONDON - British universities are increasingly excluding courses and research that could provoke China, according to an associate professor at the University College London who says academic freedom is being compromised.
Michelle Shipworth, who teaches energy and social sciences at UCL, says her university and others that depend financially on Chinese students are pressuring professors to remove courses they feel may offend China. Her statements follow the British government's approval of a controversial new Chinese embassy in London that critics say could be used for spying and other security risks.
Students have staged protests over Chinese pressure on British universities. Last year, Sheffield Hallam University ordered Laura Murphy, a professor of human rights and contemporary slavery, to stop her research on supply chains and forced labor in China, British media reported.
It's not an isolated case. In 2023, Shipworth says a Chinese student lashed out at her during a lecture after she presented statistics related about modern-day slavery.
Shipworth says she was questioning the reliability of publicly available data on statistics about modern-day slavery such as forced labor and sexual exploitation in China and other countries. The student was indignant.
"'Why did you use such an objectionable claim?'" Shipworth, 60, speaking in an interview with Kyodo News, quoted the student as saying. Chinese students make up about a quarter of University College London's 50,000-plus student body.
The purpose of the class was to prompt discussion, but Shipworth says she later got a call from the head of the department stating that "there were some students who were upset by it." She was instructed to change her course content.
When Shipworth responded only that she would consider doing so, she was unable to access the university's online teaching platform, limiting her communication channels with students.
Change requests continued, and she reluctantly complied. The department head explained to her that if Chinese students stop enrolling it would cause operational difficulties for UCL. "He explicitly said that they were worried about fees," Shipworth recalls.
"This is nuts. I mean, it didn't make any sense," Shipworth told Kyodo. She said she has heard about colleagues who lost nontenured positions at UCL after reporting Chinese students for cheating.
In a survey of China scholars published in August 2025 by the British think tank UK-China Transparency, 32 out of 50 respondents agreed that universities are influenced by their financial dependence on Chinese students and prioritize their relationship with the Chinese government.
One scholar argued that the Chinese Communist Party "has achieved what amounts to control over academic outputs in many cases." Others say the Chinese government is threatening universities that research sensitive topics.
Multiple responses indicate that universities are overreacting, forcing changes to courses addressing human rights violations and ethnic minority issues, or canceling research.
According to sources such as UK-China Transparency, Chinese student organizations have been established at various universities and work with the CCP to monitor classes and research.
A system where students monitor each other has also been set up, suppressing freedom of speech on campuses in Britain.
A Chinese student of UCL who requested anonymity told Kyodo, "I am not sure about the surveillance by student organizations, but I assume that it is the patriotic students who would object to courses which offend China."
One scholar mentioned being told by Chinese students that "surveillance is omnipresent and students are interviewed by officials when they return to China."
UK-China Transparency has warned that China studies in Britain are "in crisis," with suppression by the CCP and harassment undermining academic freedom and the safety of staff and students, especially those of Chinese nationality.
"For Chinese nationals, surveillance is so entrenched that it appears the situation in China itself has been partially replicated in the UK," the British think tank stated.
The British government views universities as a "primary target" for foreign and hostile forces and has begun investigating the situation, including urging universities to submit reports.
