Oxford University’s China dilemma

LONDON — Britain’s most prestigious university is on the hunt for a new figurehead. And you can be sure China is watching.
Oxford’s dreaming spires are braced for a shake-up, as 250,000 alumni and academics prepare to elect a new chancellor.
For nearly 1,000 years, the world’s second-oldest university, perhaps the U.K’s most pre-eminent seat of learning, has been the training ground for future Nobel winners, diplomats, prime ministers and spies. The chancellor acts as the ceremonial, often opinionated (and to date always male) head of a key implement of U.K. soft power.
This time around, the election to lead this august institution is being viewed through the lens of Britain’s relations with a foreign state 5,000 miles away.
Outgoing Chancellor Chris Patten, who served as the 28th and final governor of Hong Kong and is a bête noire of the Chinese government, is stepping down after 20 years in the role.
With U.K. universities increasingly reliant on Chinese overseas students to fill the coffers, and a new Labour government aiming to rebuild bridges with Beijing, those aiming to replace Patten are coming under plenty of scrutiny for their own position on Sino-British relations.
The leading candidate for the role, former Conservative Party Leader William Hague, told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast that such was the threat to British security from Chinese students that the university’s admissions officers should vet applicants.
He said: “One has to be wary about Chinese students in particular subjects that might have military applications in the future. So there are limits to that.” Asked by host Anne McElvoy who should vet candidates, Hague added: “Admissions tutors … you always have to have some regard to national security.”
In contrast, Hague’s main rival, Labour peer Peter Mandelson, has been an outspoken advocate of closer ties between the U.K. and China.
And that means the contest, due to be decided next week, has transcended the world of academia to touch on a major geo-political issue.
The sought-after post of Oxford chancellor has long had a political aspect, with former U.K. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and ex-European Commission President Roy Jenkins among the illustrious names to have occupied the role.
As well as Tory peer Hague and Labour fixer Mandelson, those who have made it to the final round in this year’s contest include ex-Conservative Cabinet minister Dominic Grieve, leading Scottish lawyer Elish Angiolini and Labour former Leader of the House of Lords Jan Royall.
The man they seek to replace used his two decades as chancellor to highlight his growing concern over Chinese premier Xi Jinping.
Having watched the Union Jack lowered over the then-colony in 1997, when Hong Kong was handed back to China after more that 150 years of British rule, Patten has been outspoken about the need to protect Britain’s interests, and those of the university, from what he sees as the malign influence of China. 
Writing for the Australian in 2020, Patten said: “One thing is clear: the world cannot trust Xi’s dictatorship. The sooner we recognise this and act together, the sooner the Beijing bullies will have to behave better. The world will be safer and more prosperous for it.”
The antipathy is mutual; during his time in Hong Kong, the official Chinese media called Patten a snake, a liar, “prostitute for a thousand generations” and a tango dancer.
However, not all the front-runners to replace Patten share his view of the threat from Xi.
Peter Mandelson, the former Labour Cabinet minister and spin doctor who was previously European commissioner for trade, has been a strong advocate for closer economic ties with China.
Earlier this year, Mandelson told the Telegraph he had the “international connections and networks” to ensure Oxford remains a “global university.” His own connections and networks with China are certainly extensive.
Since quitting frontline politics when Labour left office in 2010, Mandelson has lobbied against the blocking of Chinese investment in the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant and against the previous Conservative government’s national security and investment bill as “a powerful deterrent to foreign direct investment.” 
The Labour peer, who served as an informal adviser to Keir Starmer in opposition and is also being tipped as the next U.K. ambassador to Washington, is president of Global Counsel, a lobbying firm which he founded, and part owns. He resigned from its board weeks before Labour entered Downing Street this year.
Between 2015 and 2023, Mandelson was president of the Great Britain-China Center, a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Foreign Office, and was said to be a “frequent visitor to the country,” according to the body’s then-chairman, Martin Davidson.
In a conversation in November 2021 hosted by the Center for China and Globalization with the think tank’s president Wang Huiyao, a senior Chinese Communist Party official, Mandelson said his firm “in recent years has developed a significant China footprint” after seeing the “demand for our services” grow from “Chinese corporates.”
In an interview with the South China Morning Post in September, Mandelson said Britain “can’t boycott the biggest and fastest-growing economy in the world” and suggested U.K. disquiet about China’s human rights record and economic interests “shouldn’t overwhelm the other.” 
Hague, a Conservative peer who was one of the key players in the so-called golden era of relations between the U.K. and China during David Cameron’s premiership as his foreign secretary, is perhaps the frontrunner for the Oxford role.
Speaking to POLITICO Power Play, Hague said of the U.K.’s growing reliance on Chinese tuition fees and broader economic investment: “It’s very healthy to have a lot of Chinese students,” and said it was “very important to maintain contact.”
Responding to reports that Chinese students at the University of Cambridge had been told by the Chinese ambassador to “serve the motherland,” and as so-called “Trojan horse” Chinese institutes at British universities lose government funding, Hague suggested some sensitive areas should be off-limits.
“Technologies that intelligence agencies are interested in or in the nuclear field” could be restricted, he said, along with “artificial intelligence in defense technologies, or biotechnology.”
Asked whether admissions tutors would have a clear enough grasp of U.K. national security to vet potential Chinese students applying to these roles, Hague said: “I’m sure they can cope.”
British universities, including Oxford, are heavily reliant on foreign students for funding. As of 2022, international students made up 46 per cent of the ancient university’s student body, and 65 per cent of post-graduates. 
More than 150,000 Chinese students are enrolled at U.K. universities, making up the largest foreign student intake of any country until India took the top spot last year. Analysis by the Telegraph suggested tuition fees from Chinese students contributed almost £6 billion to the university sector.
Yet Yu Jie, a senior research fellow on China at think tank Chatham House, said Oxford’s appeal to the parents of Chinese students may be on the wane due to significant changes in the Chinese job market.
“Having an overseas degree from a top British or U.S. university may not necessarily be a bonus to land a plum job in the Chinese civil service, which most Chinese youngsters want these days,” she said, adding that China was also “well ahead” of the U.K. on scientific research.
She described the chancellor role as essentially the “diplomat” or “foreign minister” for Oxford — someone who can both promote international engagement and lobby the U.K. government for what it wants.
“The reason we’re having the debates is these two candidates [Mandelson and Hague], plus the previous chancellor, are taking diametrically opposed views on China,” she added.
Some see the chancellorship as mere window-dressing, regardless of the battles being fought over Beijing ties.
Anthony Seldon, a political historian who also attended Worcester College, Oxford, said the contest, regardless of who won, may not add much to the standing of the university, and dismissed it as little more than a vanity project for aging has-beens. 
“Chancellors rarely make much difference, and the stronger the university, the less a chancellor can do,” he said. “It’s nice for parents on graduation day to see someone they recognize, but we’re not talking about something that’s going to propel Oxford into the second half of the 21st century.   
“To Oxford it won’t make very much difference if it’s William Hague or it’s Peter Mandelson, or another.”
“Obviously, it matters to them,” Seldon added. “It is one of the most delightful imaginable post-career jobs.”