Universities that have academic partnerships with institutions in hostile states such as China should consider whether their agreements are ethical, education chiefs have been told.
An MI5 unit launched alongside the government’s security review warned that laws in China meant that intelligence agencies could “compel Chinese organisations and individuals to carry out work on their behalf”.
And the warning specifically urged caution over partnerships with institutions that had “any involvement in research on behalf of the military or police with links to a hostile state”, and said universities should “question whether it would be ethical to sign agreements with them”.
It comes after The Times revealed in January that more than 40 British universities have partnered with bodies in China connected to the Uighur genocide,
