Zhejiang University to Open London Campus in BBC Television Centre

Chinese university in talks to open UK campus at former BBC site

One of China's top universities is in talks to open a campus at the former site of the BBC in London in the latest push to extend Chinese influence across the globe.

Zhejiang University has signed an agreement with Imperial College London that could see it become a major partner in a new seven-acre site in White City.

The site, which was previously owned by the BBC, will boast a £150 million research centre for as many as 3,000 scientists, according to Imperial College.

While Zhejiang is the first Chinese university to move to set up a campus overseas, others are likely to soon follow suit.

"China will support and help its universities to go out and internationalise," said Zhang Xiuqin, the director of the department of International Cooperation and Exchanges at China's Education ministry.

She added that Zhejiang University's foreign campus would be a "valuable step" that would pave the way for other institutions. Xiamen University has also recently announced that it will set up a campus in Malaysia.

For the Chinese government, a university campus in a foreign country is another step in its campaign to extend Chinese influence and fight the perception that China's rise is a threat to the West.

"Higher education will certainly be at the vanguard of such soft power efforts and it is intriguing to see two such ventures announced in quick succession," noted Michael Gow on his blog about Chinese higher education, thedaxue.org.

Last week, Sir Keith O'Nions, the president and rector of Imperial College, visited Hangzhou to sign a non-binding agreement to discuss the new campus.

However, in a sign of how seriously China is taking the project, he was greeted not only by the various heads of Zhejiang University, but also by a phalanx of senior Chinese leaders, including the governor and vice governor of Zhejiang province, and a vice minister of education.

The news was instantly published by Xinhua, the national news agency, and appeared on Chinese television news bulletins.

The precise details of the project are still to be fixed and the agreement is so far non-binding, said a spokesman for Imperial.

However, Song Yonghua, the executive vice president of Zhejiang University, said he was keen to establish a joint laboratory where Imperial College and Zhejiang students could collaborate.

For Zhejiang University, a London campus would hugely boost its standing in China and potentially allow it to reap more government grants.

Imperial College, meanwhile, is looking to raise funds for the new site but declined to disclose how much it is seeking.

Based in the eastern city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang University has around 44,000 students, of whom around half are post-graduates.

As one of China's top five universities, Zhejiang already wins handsome funding from the government for its science and technology research.

Between 2006 to 2011, the Chinese government handed out over 200 billion yuan (£20 billion) in funding to its elite universities for scientific research.

However, a collaboration with Imperial would help it to boost its research ranking and possibly persuade the Chinese government to divert more funds its way.

Last year, Cambridge university accepted £3.7 million for a new chair of Chinese Development at a new Centre of Development Studies from a organisation called the Chong Hua Foundation.

The official Cambridge announcement on the donation said that the foundation "is focused on advancing education for the benefit of the People's Republic of China".