UK collaborative links with China: Report of a scoping exercise 1999-2000

Introduction

1 The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) is a UK organisation which aims to promote public confidence that the quality of provision and standards of awards in higher education are being safeguarded and enhanced. It provides public information about quality and standards in higher education to meet the needs of students, employers and the funders of higher education. One of QAA's activities is to carry out quality audits of collaborative links between UK higher education institutions and some of their partner organisations in other countries.

2 In respect of collaborative links between UK higher education institutions and Chinese partners, QAA is aware that, while there are few established links, a number of UK institutions are actively exploring the possibility of setting up collaborative programmes in China. A decision was therefore taken by QAA to conduct, during 1999, a scoping exercise on UK collaborative activity with China, with a view to a normal quality audit of selected partnership links within the next two to three years. The exercise was preceded in 1998 by a survey by QAA of UK institutions to identify the current scale of collaborative provision being offered in China by the UK higher education sector.

3 The scoping exercise was intended to have several outcomes. It presented an opportunity for QAA to engage with Chinese higher education authorities to gain a better understanding of China's interests in collaborative links with UK higher education, and to explain to them the procedures by which QAA and UK institutions assure the quality and standards of UK higher education, wherever and however it is provided. An intended outcome of that dialogue was the establishment of a strategy of cooperation between QAA and the Chinese agencies who have comparable responsibilities for maintaining the quality and standards of provision, in order to provide a firm basis for future discussions. The exercise also drew upon the experience of a number of UK institutions who had existing collaborative links with China in order to provide guidance to UK institutions who were developing or considering the development of similar links with partners in China. This report, which stems from the scoping exercise, aims to provide for UK higher education institutions an outline of the context of higher education in China, and of particular opportunities and challenges presented by collaborative arrangements for taught programmes with Chinese institutions. The scoping exercise was undertaken by Dr D J Buckingham and Mrs N J Channon.

4 The scoping exercise consisted of three elements. The first took place in the UK, and was in the form of informal discussions with institutions who were already operating partnership links with Chinese institutions. A total of nine institutions were visited, and QAA is grateful to them for the time that they gave in discussing their links, and for the advice and guidance that they freely gave. The second element also took place in the UK, and involved meetings with a number of individuals with knowledge of the Chinese education system. These included members of the Education Commission of the Chinese Embassy, of the British Council and of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. QAA is grateful to all those who gave their time to assist in this exercise.

5 The third element was a visit to China in March 2000. In the course of the visit, discussions took place with the officials of the Ministry of Education; Municipal and Provincial authorities in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong; members of staff and students from seven higher education institutions; and representatives of the British Council in each of the areas visited by the QAA team. All those who met the QAA team were most forthcoming, and provided the very helpful information on which much of this report is based. QAA is grateful for the kindness and hospitality shown by all those in China who gave generously of their time to support it in this exercise.

Context

6 In recent years China has started to move from a planned to a market economy. As reported in the China Daily newspaper, at a meeting of the China Development Forum in March 2000, Vice-Premier Wen Jiabao said: 'As a developing country, China is now in a crucial stage of transition from a planned to a market economy, and must readjust its economic structure to respond to changing growth patterns. We can gradually solve the current problems as long as we continue to reform and open up, stick to socialism with Chinese characteristics and keep up development efforts'.

7 The Chinese Ministry of Education's 1998 publication Educational Development in China states that 'with the advent of reform and opening up, in order to learn from foreign advances in science, technology and culture, as well as in management experiences, and in order to promote the training of highly qualified professionals, the Chinese Government has formulated a series of policies concerning study abroad'. The guiding principles followed in recent years may be summed up as 'the Government supports study abroad and encourages scholars to return home to render their services, and ensures the freedom of travel in and out of the country, ushering a new era of study abroad'.

8 The expressions 'from planned to market economy' and 'opening up' epitomise China's strategy for development. Certainly, the pace at which China is developing towards a market economy is very fast. This pace of change impacts upon all aspects of commerce and education as new areas are identified for closer partnership with the international community.

Higher education in China

9 According to figures published by the Chinese Ministry of Education, by 1997 there were 1,020 'regular' institutions of higher education with a total undergraduate student population of 5.89 million, although not all these students would have been following a degree programme. At the same time there were 735 institutions providing graduate training, with a total population of 176,400 graduate students. Since then, there have been a number of mergers and the foundation of new universities; such is the pace of change in China at this time.

10 All aspiring university and college students go through the national higher education institution entrance examination in July of each year. Some 3.88 million students sat these national college entrance examinations during 7 to 9 July 2000. The results of the examination place students into one of four different levels; the level determines to which higher education institution they will be able to go. The number of students that will progress to higher education is centrally determined and institutions are allocated their students on a quota system. The place of an institution in the ranking system will determine the type and number of students they receive. The Director of the Ministry of Education's Department for College Students' Affairs has said that colleges and universities across China would accept 2 million students this year. The People's Daily reported on 14 June 2000 that, according to the State Development Planning Commission, Chinese universities and colleges planned to enrol a total of 1.8 million students this year, up 12.5 per cent on last year. It is anticipated that enrolments will continue to increase over the next three years.

Ranking of institutions

11 The ranking of institutions is a very strong feature of higher education in China. The position that an institution holds in the official ranking tables, maintained by the Ministry of Education, will determine the level of autonomy that it has, the quality of student allocated to it and the resources it receives from either the state or the province. Information on the official ranking tables can be found by contacting the Education Section of the Chinese Embassy in London. As in the UK, unofficial ranking tables have been developed, such as that produced by Netbig.com (http://rank2000.netbig.com/english_ver/index.htm).

12 An initiative of particular importance to institutions high in the ranking table, or aspiring to be high in the table, has been Project 211, which was devised in 1995 to strengthen 100 higher education institutions and key disciplinary areas as a national priority for the 21st century. According to the paper Project 211: A Brief Introduction produced by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the State Education Commission, the project was 'primarily aiming at training high-level professional manpower to implement the national strategy for social and economic development'. Established during the 9th Five-Year Plan period, it was 'envisaged that after several years efforts some 100 institutions of higher learning and a group of key disciplinary areas will have greatly improved its quality of education, scientific research, management and institutional efficiency'. Once an institution had been identified as a participant in Project 211, resources were made available to develop aspects of its provision. In addition, 25 of these institutions were identified as being a priority for assistance with upgrading and improving their infrastructure for the further enhancement of teaching and research. The focus of these developments is on the economic development of China and the training of the technical personnel who are needed for national development. It is understood that Project 211 will continue in the future in a modified form with greater focus on particular disciplines.

13 The 'top 100' universities in the ranking table are assessed by the State against the criteria of the 'excellent evaluation for teaching programmes'. One of the institutions visited by the QAA team was undertaking the evaluation for the 'outstanding' category because achievement of that rank would take it higher in the official ranking table. It would then be allocated students of a higher standard (as measured by the national entrance examinations), and would gain a higher status, although it would not necessarily receive increased funding. Chinese institutions wishing to move 'up a grade' in the rankings will find themselves subjected to a challenging external scrutiny.

Quality assurance and regulation

14 China has robust mechanisms for assuring quality in its higher education provision. These mechanisms are comprehensive and have many features in common with quality assurance procedures in the UK. The processes for assuring quality of provision operate at both state and provincial level, and the requirements and challenges they present are not dissimilar to those operating in the UK. However, different types of institutions in China are affected in different ways depending on the type of institution, the programmes on offer, and whether or not the institution is under the auspices of the state or the province. This explains why the UK institutions who assisted the QAA team in the scoping exercise, and who had partners of different types within the Chinese higher education system, had clear but different perceptions of the quality assurance processes operating in China.

15 In 1980, regulations were adopted to provide for three grades of academic degree: the bachelor's degree, the master's degree and the doctor's degree. At the bachelor's level, the programmes of study that are offered in universities are defined and controlled by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry has defined 249 approved degree programmes, and for each of the specialities there is a defined curriculum and content specification, although a university is allowed to tailor its programme to the particular specialisms that it supports in that discipline. Any substantive changes to curriculum and content have to be approved by the Ministry. The number of graduates in particular subject areas is controlled by the number of institutions allowed to offer particular programmes. For example, one of the 'top 100' universities visited by the QAA team was approved to offer 48 of the 249 disciplines, although it would not necessarily choose to offer them all. If it wished to add a new discipline it would need to seek approval from the Ministry of Education. The current emphasis in the regulation of programmes is upon those subject areas that will support China's further economic and technological development. In the 1998 publication Education Development in China, it was stated that 'the structure of the fields of study provided by HEIs at the undergraduate level has gradually been adjusted to adapt to the needs of economic and social development of the country'.

The reform of higher education

16 The history of higher education in China is longer than in any European country, but recent circumstances has meant that investment in higher education and technological advances in China have not kept pace with developments elsewhere. The fast developing economy in China needs a greater number of well-qualified people than can be supplied by its present higher education infrastructure. While the recent initiatives are designed to address the imbalance between supply and demand, China recognises that it cannot correct that imbalance immediately. It is therefore encouraging links with overseas partners to help it meet the shortfall in high quality graduates, particularly in subject areas that are resource-intensive, or that benefit from an international perspective.

17 The move from a planned to a market economy affects higher education in several ways. For example, as part of the reform of higher education in China, tuition fees are increasing. According to the People's Daily (12 June 2000), the Vice-Minister of Education, Zhang Baoqing, said that compulsory education would still be free, but that universities would collect tuition fees according to costs. Nonetheless, universities are required to provide financial aid to poorer students, and information on state-provided financial aid is distributed to all those taking the national exams. The reform of higher education has also led to the establishment of some private universities and privately-funded schools within public universities. One outcome of this development has been an opportunity to study in China for those who are unsuccessful in the national entrance examinations but who, nevertheless, have the potential to benefit from higher education and have the capacity to pay for all their own education. In addition, a recent announcement from the State Development Planning Commission stated that, in order to delegate more decision-making power to universities, the State Council has decided to allow provincial governments to set their own annual enrolment plans according to local situation and need.

Collaborative partnerships: a view from the UK

18 Nine institutions were asked if they would be willing to take part in this scoping exercise on the basis of the detailed information that they had provided to the 1998 QAA survey of UK collaborative links with China (see above, paragraph 2). A number of other UK institutions had responded to the survey claiming to have no collaborative arrangements with Chinese partners. However, it quickly became clear during the visit to China that some of these institutions did, in fact, have established partnership links with Chinese universities. This failure to disclose the existence of established collaborative arrangements caused some confusion during the visit to China, and had the potential to cause embarrassment for the institutions concerned as well as for QAA. It would be advisable for UK institutions to ensure that this disappointing aspect of the present exercise is not repeated in future surveys of collaborative links with overseas countries.

19 All those institutions that were asked to take part in the scoping exercise agreed to share their knowledge with the QAA team. Officers of QAA visited each institution and had informal discussions in the UK with the nine participating institutions about their experience of collaborative arrangements with Chinese partners. The main outcomes of these discussions are outlined below.

20 The models of programme provision that made up the scoping exercise were:

'travelling teachers' - UK staff travel to the Chinese partner to deliver intensive courses;
variant of 'travelling teachers' with delivery in English but assessment in the Chinese language;
2+2 years (the first 2 years in China with articulation to UK institution at level 2);
1+3 years (foundation course in English prior to joining UK institution at level 1);
1+3 years (foundation course in a specific subject prior to joining UK institution at level 1);
2+1 years undergraduate programme;
distance learning with local tutor support;
programme designed and quality assured by UK institution, but the award is that of the Chinese partner.

The key points that emerged from these discussions with UK institutions may be grouped into three broad clusters relating to the setting-up, operation, and assurance of quality and standards of the partnership link.

Setting up the partnership arrangements

21 The importance of getting to know the partner institution and its culture, and understanding its expectations for the collaborative link, cannot be over-emphasised. Building upon existing links with individuals, for example research-based links, increases the opportunities for the partners better to understand each other. In addition, the involvement of a member of the UK institution who has a good working knowledge of Chinese culture and language assists greatly in maintaining mutual confidence during the process of negotiation and discussion and, later, of operation.

22 While the higher education network in China is small and, in general, communications are good, UK institutions should recognise that individuals are more likely to work within strict boundaries which may be drawn differently from those that are familiar in the UK. While communication within the sector can be fast and efficient, the Chinese partner or individual members of the partner, might see no need, or have no wish, to communicate information beyond their own boundaries, however they may define them. This means that assumptions should not be made about information exchange across and within Chinese partner institutions or their individual members of staff.

23 Where the UK institution has established contact points at both institutional level and programme level to provide support for the link, there can be risk of confusion arising from the perception of different messages coming from the two levels. While it is important that a partnership should be supported at both programme and institutional levels in the UK institution, it is equally important to identify from the outset of the partnership the relative roles and responsibilities of the two levels, and to avoid the potential for confusion that can arise from multiple lines of communication. The link is likely to be established more successfully, and to be more sustainable, if it operates through a single contact point located either at programme level or institutional level, but not both.

24 Establishing the link from the outset as an equal partnership, maintained by regular exchange visits between staff and students of both partners, increases the mutual understanding and the probability of maintaining a successful partnership. While frequent visits are important, having a representative of one of the partners permanently on site in the other further increases the opportunities to build a good partnership. Support from the British Council, British Embassy (and British Chamber of Commerce) has invariably proved to be an important part of setting up the link.

Operating the partnership link

25 Chinese students are generally noted for their very high motivation to complete programmes successfully. In technical subject areas, UK staff frequently comment on the particular strength of Chinese students in mathematical studies. Nevertheless, the differences between western and oriental styles of teaching and learning (see below, paragraph 39) mean that Chinese students transferring to the UK, or receiving teaching by UK staff in China, may have more difficulties than might have been anticipated by programme providers in adapting to the learning opportunities available to them. Similarly, students in the Chinese partner might need more support than expected in order to make full use of resource materials of a type familiar to UK students. Simple translation of language is unlikely to be enough to provide sufficient guidance, and contextual and cultural aspects may have to be added to existing materials to ensure relevance for Chinese students.

26 All Chinese students will study English as part of an undergraduate programme, and study of the language is compulsory throughout pre-university education. However, there is little use of colloquial English, and unnecessary misunderstandings can result if the meaning of words is not made clear. In particular, the translation of technical words can pose some difficulties. For example, the QAA team found that the word 'benchmark' posed particular difficulties for translators. There are also some compulsory elements of undergraduate education in China, in matters relating to China's culture and service to the Chinese community, that would not normally be included in a UK degree programme. It is unlikely that these elements could be recognised as bearing credit toward a UK award. In developing the collaborative arrangements, the UK institution needs to be sensitive to these requirements, while ensuring that any changes do not compromise the equivalence to the comparable UK programme.

27 Local tutors in the Chinese partner institution can provide a useful support service for students, but there is potential for them to confuse the students if they give advice or feedback that conflicts with the overall aims of the programme. The UK institution must give local tutors very clear guidance on its expectations for their role and activities, and monitor these in operation.

Assuring quality and standards in the collaborative arrangements

28 The differences between UK and Chinese practice in the administration of programmes mean that a UK institution must be very clear in its guidance to staff in the Chinese partner institution about its requirements for programme administration and for the flow of management information. The mechanisms in China for ensuring consistency in assessment are not necessarily the same as in the UK. There is no tradition of some of the mechanisms adopted by UK higher education for maintaining academic standards, such as the use of external examiners or double marking, and a UK institution will need to explain to its Chinese partner its requirements for such procedures.

29 Student involvement in providing feedback is encouraged in China, but perhaps in a different way to that encouraged by UK institutions. Feedback on teaching performance in a face-to-face mode from students to teachers would be less familiar, and less acceptable, than in the UK. Student participation in course committees is a familiar feedback mechanism, but for best effect it is important to protect the separation between individuals and the views that they represent on behalf of their class. In one instance, a UK institution had encouraged the students, on their own, to suggest an agenda of items to be considered by staff. The subsequent, successful staff/student meeting was based on the agenda, but it was owned by the whole class rather than an individual. On the other hand, in the case of programmes offered predominantly to mature, self-funded students, UK staff reported no difficulties in eliciting feedback from students.

30 There is evidence of the understandable popularity of courses delivered and assessed in the Chinese language, but UK institutions need to be aware of the very considerable additional demands placed by such arrangements on their responsibilities to ensure comparability with awards offered in the UK.

Collaborative partnerships: a view from China

31 This paper has already noted the Government policy towards students studying abroad. This is emphasised by the municipal authorities. For example the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, in its publication Shanghai Basic Facts: Education, adopts the policy of 'support of studying abroad and encouragement of coming back'. This combination of support for studying abroad and concern that students return is reflected in policies developed by the education authorities. No overseas institution is allowed to advertise for students in China, and all recruitment has to be undertaken through the use of agents. In the last few years the Chinese authorities have been concerned about the way in which agents have been recruiting students for overseas institutions, including those in the UK, without ensuring that the students can return to China. In consequence, a licensing scheme has recently been introduced to limit and control the activities of agents.

Approach to collaboration

32 The Chinese institutions and education authorities visited during this scoping exercise made it clear that they welcomed partnerships with UK institutions for research and the development of joint programmes. Collaboration with the UK is valued and the view was expressed to the QAA team that 'there are still many rooms to explore'. However, China does not wish to see joint programmes that appear to do no more than act as a recruiting exercise to get students to leave China. There is an expectation that students will return to China to contribute to its development and economic growth. Some institutions that are recruiting students on the basis that the collaborative links on offer are principally routes to studying and living in the UK are not welcomed by the education authorities.

33 One aspect of the interest in collaboration with the UK is that, while China has strong higher education provision of its own, the supply of high quality teachers in China cannot meet the needs of the expanding higher education sector. At present, a foreign institution is not permitted to set up as an education provider in China without working through a Chinese partner in a joint programme, although this may change now that China is likely to become a member of the World Trade Organisation. Partnerships with foreign institutions can offer a means of increasing the number of opportunities for Chinese students to enter higher education, but collaborative arrangements that are established as equal partnerships are preferred to those where the Chinese institution is manifestly a junior partner. Partnerships where the Chinese partner is, in effect, a 'preparatory school' are not encouraged. While appreciating the significance of the 'equal partnership' model, QAA must draw the attention of participating institutions to the ultimate responsibility of the UK awarding body to safeguard the academic standards of all awards made in its name.

34 These aspects of China's approach to collaboration in higher education have consequences for preferred models of partnership. Models of joint programmes where students remain as students of the Chinese institution throughout, or where students study in the UK for part of the time but return to China for the final assessment, encourage graduates to return to China for employment. A view was expressed by some Chinese institutions who met the QAA team that they preferred the 'travelling teacher' model, where staff of the UK institution present intensive courses in their partner institution. The perceived advantage of this model is that students spend less or no time in the UK, and the visiting UK staff can have greater impact on staff development within the Chinese partner institution.

Guidance on developing a partnership

35 A joint programme between a UK and a Chinese institution, leading to a degree, must be approved by the Ministry of Education. The QAA team was made aware of examples of master's programmes running in China that have not been approved, and these are considered by the Ministry to be 'training courses' from which students should not get a degree of either the Chinese or the UK institution. Partnerships that are established should be reported to the Ministry of Education, and students should not be recruited without this having been done.

36 The Chinese authorities have established a core curriculum which has to be taught to complete all programmes (see above, paragraph 26). Students on exchange programmes still have to complete the 'Chinese element' of the programme. This can be done before they travel or when they return to China, or they can have a teacher with them to provide the element. There are also centrally-set national tests in English and in computer studies.

37 Potential partners should seek initial information from the Education Section of the Chinese Embassy in London. UK institutions should be aware that there is currently a debate about mutual recognition of degrees between the UK and China; the issue of mutual recognition of degrees was included in the Framework Agreement on Educational Collaboration signed by David Blunkett (UK Secretary of State for Education and Employment) and Mme Chen Zhili (the Chinese Minister of Education) in June 2000.

Ranking of institutions: China and UK

38 The ranking of a Chinese institution will have a significant bearing on the ease with which it can develop a joint programme and receive Ministry approval. Considerable interest was expressed to the QAA team about the 'ranking' of UK institutions, and about the status of UK institutions who had made approaches to establish a joint programme. There was some confusion about the 'league tables' that appear in the UK press, and limited knowledge of the information about UK institutions that was available on the QAA web site. The QAA team took the opportunity to make known the content of that web site, and of the subject review and continuation audit documents available there. The Chinese institutions and education authorities expressed great interest in this information, and in other documentation relating to quality assurance in UK higher education.

Challenges

39 This paper has already referred to the need to design collaborative programmes to address the contextual and cultural aspects that ensure relevance of resource materials for Chinese students. The style of teaching, at least initially, also has to be adapted to suit the learning styles to which Chinese students are accustomed. The approach with which these students will be most familiar is much more 'teacher-led' than is the case in UK higher education programmes. They may well, therefore, be uncomfortable with 'student-centred' approaches to learning that require group work, projects and presentations. Students brought up in a more traditional master/pupil educational culture will find it difficult to deal with teaching styles, for example in seminars, that expect students to challenge or criticise the views of the teacher or the texts. They are unlikely to be familiar with the range of modes of assessment found in UK higher education. The challenge of establishing a successful collaborative arrangement is therefore more than designing an academic progression to take students from their academic achievement at entry to an output that meets the expectation of the UK award; it also requires the academic progression to be matched by the development of the learning skills needed to gain full benefit from the approaches to learning now used in most UK institutions.

40 Web-based learning would appear to offer an attractive route to providing interactive and resource-based learning to students on collaborative programmes in China. Access to the internet, however, is unevenly distributed, and providers cannot rely on web-based learning being regularly or reliably available to its students at a distance. Web-based learning therefore needs to be backed up by materials that do not rely on internet access, and by alternative learning strategies that deploy those materials effectively. Similarly, machines capable of reading information stored on CD Rom, including prospectuses, cannot always be easily accessed.

41 A major challenge faced by all UK institutions who engage in collaborative arrangements with China is the high cost of UK-based education for Chinese students. Chinese students, or their parents, may have to save for decades to meet the cost of a single year of education in the UK. The 'one-child' rule means that achieving the goal of higher education for their son or daughter is now more realistic for more parents; it also means that there is an expectation of a good return for this high investment in higher education, and a keen awareness of the quality and reputation of the educational provision. The more of a collaborative programme that is delivered in China, and the shorter the duration of the programme, the lower the total cost to Chinese students. UK institutions seeking to establish taught programmes with Chinese partners will be under some pressure to reduce the costs to Chinese students, but will also be seeking to ensure that the quality and standards of the collaborative provision meet its expectations, and those of its paying customers. The challenge to UK institutions is therefore to achieve a proper balance between cost and quality; a challenge that is not unusual but is particularly sharply focused in the case of links with Chinese partners.

Opportunities for developing partnerships

42 The QAA team heard repeated reference to 'opening up' and to the move 'from planned to market economy'. Both of these concepts imply greater opportunities for collaboration between higher education institutions in China and the UK. China's deliberate transition from a planned economy to one that is much more market-oriented offers opportunities for joint programmes where a UK institution's greater knowledge of western market economy complements the partner's local knowledge. For example, the People's Daily (12 July 2000) reported that the Shanghai Jiaotong University has signed an agreement with a Hong Kong company to set up China's first digital art and cultural industry college. The University will provide land, library resources and teaching staff, while the sponsoring company will provide financial support; this is an example of a private college being established within a public university. The concept of 'opening up' also relates to the economic refocusing, and the greater autonomy that accompanies it. For example, a new law came into effect in 1999 which allows universities to have more control over their budgets and to develop more diverse income streams than before.

43 Resource constraints within Chinese higher education open another line of opportunity for collaboration. Chinese institutions spoke frankly with the QAA team about the resource limitations that they faced. Partnership arrangements where the UK component of study is able to offer students the practical learning opportunities that derive from a relatively strong resource base have obvious attractions. This is particularly important in technology-based programmes (not necessarily IT-based programmes). For example, the QAA team heard that environmental engineering was an area of expansion in Chinese higher education where there would be particular interest in joint programmes with UK institutions.

44 Teacher training is another area of interest, not for reasons of resource but because of the interest in developing approaches to teaching and learning that would give more experience of western styles of teaching. There would be particular interest in collaborative arrangements that promoted learning opportunities combining the best of western and oriental teaching and learning strategies.

45 Much of the economic development of China to date has been unevenly distributed across the country, with most concentration on the Eastern coastal regions and the Pearl River delta. However, Chinese Vice-Premier Wen Jiabao recently urged that the focus for investment should move more toward China's western regions, with particular emphasis on the promotion of science, technology and education. The Ministry of Education has recently announced that China's western regions are to receive higher quotas for admission of students to higher education. This change of focus may present opportunities for partnerships with UK institutions to be developed in China's west.

46 During a five-day visit in June 2000 to China by the UK Secretary of State for Education and Employment, David Blunkett, an agreement aimed at boosting education and training links was signed with the Chinese Minister of Education Mme Chen Zhili. 'Both countries realise the importance of the knowledge-based economy to our success and prosperity', said Mr Blunkett. He also referred in his speech to the importance of the internet in supporting 'greater cultural and educational links' between the UK and China. The encouragement shown by the education authorities of both China and the UK to develop links in education and training must bode well for UK institutions who wish to establish appropriate collaborative arrangements of assured quality and high academic standards.

Conclusions

47 The purpose of this scoping exercise was to explore the present range and scale of UK collaborative provision in China. The exercise was intended to serve several objectives: to ensure that the procedures for assuring the quality and standards of UK higher education were understood by Chinese education authorities, and to set the scene for a quality audit by QAA of selected UK-China higher education links in the next two to three years; to gain a better understanding of China's interests in, and preferred arrangements for, collaborative links with the UK; and to consolidate that understanding with the experience of UK institutions currently engaged in collaborative links with China in order to be able to provide some guidance to the UK higher education sector on factors likely to lead to successful partnerships with Chinese institutions.

48 In respect of the last objective QAA recognises that, although the exercise involved discussions with a large number and range of knowledgeable people, the guidance that it can provide is far from complete, not least because of the tremendous pace of change in China's economic and social development, with consequent effects upon China's approach to collaborative links with overseas providers. The move 'from planned to market economy' and the concept of 'opening up' are having a significant impact on all aspects of Chinese life including education in general, and higher education in particular. In consequence, the information gained as part of the scoping exercise will have a limited shelf life, and guidance that seemed appropriate at the time of writing may be inappropriate within a few months time.

49 From QAA's discussions with UK and Chinese institutions that have experience of collaborative arrangements between the two countries, it is suggested that the factors most likely to lead to successful collaborative links with Chinese institutions may be grouped under three headings:

Communication - there cannot be too much attention given to initial and sustained communication with a (proposed) Chinese partner, in order to gain a proper understanding of each other's academic and cultural expectations. No assumptions should be made that communication with one link, or individuals in that link, will automatically travel further.

Celebrate the difference - China's cultural and educational context is different in many ways from that of the UK, and a long-term partnership is more likely to be successful if it recognises and builds on the best aspects of that difference rather than trying to ignore it.

Get it right in the UK - the quality of provision in a collaborative link is critically dependent on the strength of the UK platform of quality assurance from which the link is built. A Chinese partner will have more confidence in the collaborative arrangements if the UK institution's requirements and expectations are clear and established from the outset of the partnership.

50 All these factors apply to the three principal stages of establishing a sustainable partnership: setting up the partnership arrangements; operating the partnership link; and assuring quality and standards in the collaborative arrangements. This report outlines a number of the success factors that were identified by the nine UK institutions who took part in the scoping exercise. While these factors, not surprisingly, are common to the establishment of any successful overseas link, they are emphasised when a UK institution is working for the first time with China, where lack of familiarity with the culture, protocols and language presents challenges that the institution might not have experienced before.

51 The higher education provided by, or in collaboration with, UK institutions is generally seen from overseas as being of high quality and supporting high academic standards. The role of QAA is to promote public confidence in the quality and standards of UK higher education, including the confidence held by overseas countries. In the competitive international marketplace for collaborative provision, QAA, therefore, strives to support UK higher education as a 'quality assured' product. QAA is aware, however, that because UK higher education tends to be seen from overseas as one entity, there is a danger that if only one collaborative partnership in a country were to demonstrate a serious failure to maintain quality or academic standards, the country concerned could lose confidence in the collaborative arrangements of the UK sector as a whole - the 'one bad apple' scenario. This would be particularly true of China which, although a large country, has a small and well-informed higher education community, and no shortage of other overseas countries wishing to gain its confidence in the collaborative provision that they offer. Notwithstanding the earlier comments about not assuming that information will automatically travel beyond the partner institution, it is reasonable to assume that 'bad news' would travel widely and quickly. It is therefore very important that QAA is kept well-informed by its UK member institutions of their actual and potential collaborative ventures with China so that it can properly fulfil its role of supporting arrangements to assure the quality and standards of the education that they provide.