In Oct 2022, first-year students of Dundee International Institute (DIICSU) — a JV between cash-strapped 
Dundee University and the local 
Central South University — in Changsha, Hunan, stepped out of their classes to praise the CCP and the PLA. They were being drilled in urban grey combat fatigues.
The students had signed up for a British education but they’re also getting communist indoctrination, whether they wanted it or not.
The opening in 2022 was the culmination of years of negotiations led by Baroness Alexander of Cleveden, who was Dundee’s vice-principal for international affairs and a former leader of Scottish Labour. It’s blessed by Nicola Sturgeon when she was first minister.
The creation of DIICSU underlined the hazards facing universities which collaborated with authoritarian regimes. Military training is compulsory in Chinese higher education, even at institutions offering Scottish curricula and degrees.
Last month the China Strategic Risks Institute think tank documented ideological indoctrination during classes and extracurricular activities at joint educational institutions (JEIs) established by universities and partners.
The lucrative ventures provide British degrees and courses on campuses in China and a potential pipeline for Chinese students to study in Britain. The JEIs do not hide their party and military work but most of this is carried out behind a curtain of Chinese language.
The press releases issued by DIICSU featured several examples of the institute’s students and staff demonstrating allegiance to the CCP.
The military drills were reported in a bulletin published on Oct 10, 2022, under a photograph of Dundee’s signature Victoria and Albert Museum on the city’s waterfront. The press release told how party figures and school leaders addressed students on the theme of “listening to the Party and following the Party”.
Later, students were put through military training. “The students learned the firm stance of the People’s Army to ‘listen to the Party and follow the Party’ through subjects like drill and tactics. They also embraced the spirit of the People’s Army, which is always determined to succeed, and developed the excellent discipline of the People’s Army, which strictly follows orders.”
Changsha is very proud of its links with the father figure of the CCP, Mao Zedong, who studied to be a teacher there in the early 20th century. There’s a giant 32m statue of the revolutionary’s head 20 minutes from DIICSU.
A week after the drills another press release, from the parent South Central University, described how students including those from DIICSU helped to form a giant human hammer and sickle, a symbol of communist revolution, at the university’s stadium for the CCP’s 20th congress.
On the subtropical island of Hainan, students at a Glasgow University JEI were marking the same event. One teacher called for students to unite around the CCP and Xi Jinping and “hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics”. A succession of other senior figures made similar remarks.
Glasgow College Hainan is one of two JEIs set up by Glasgow University with University of Electronic Science and Technology. Students at the college were standing to attention while watching the congress on a livestream.
The China Strategic Risks Institute identified issues at other British-Chinese JEIs including an outpost of Edinburgh University at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. The think tank found ads for a student affairs assistant role whose work would include “ideological and political education and value guidance for students”. The position was open only to CCP members.
Chinese staff at the Aberdeen Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence — a JV between Aberdeen and South China Normal universities — in Foshan, Guangdong, were ordered to attend a workshop on the need to strictly abide by the CCP regulations on disciplinary punishment.
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thetimes.com/uk/scotland/ar
Dundee University and the local Central South University — in Changsha, Hunan, stepped out of their classes to praise the CCP and the PLA. They were being drilled in urban grey combat fatigues.
The students had signed up for a British education but they’re also getting communist indoctrination, whether they wanted it or not.
The opening in 2022 was the culmination of years of negotiations led by Baroness Alexander of Cleveden, who was Dundee’s vice-principal for international affairs and a former leader of Scottish Labour. It’s blessed by Nicola Sturgeon when she was first minister.
The creation of DIICSU underlined the hazards facing universities which collaborated with authoritarian regimes. Military training is compulsory in Chinese higher education, even at institutions offering Scottish curricula and degrees.
Last month the China Strategic Risks Institute think tank documented ideological indoctrination during classes and extracurricular activities at joint educational institutions (JEIs) established by universities and partners.
The lucrative ventures provide British degrees and courses on campuses in China and a potential pipeline for Chinese students to study in Britain. The JEIs do not hide their party and military work but most of this is carried out behind a curtain of Chinese language.
The press releases issued by DIICSU featured several examples of the institute’s students and staff demonstrating allegiance to the CCP.
The military drills were reported in a bulletin published on Oct 10, 2022, under a photograph of Dundee’s signature Victoria and Albert Museum on the city’s waterfront. The press release told how party figures and school leaders addressed students on the theme of “listening to the Party and following the Party”.
Later, students were put through military training. “The students learned the firm stance of the People’s Army to ‘listen to the Party and follow the Party’ through subjects like drill and tactics. They also embraced the spirit of the People’s Army, which is always determined to succeed, and developed the excellent discipline of the People’s Army, which strictly follows orders.”
Changsha is very proud of its links with the father figure of the CCP, Mao Zedong, who studied to be a teacher there in the early 20th century. There’s a giant 32m statue of the revolutionary’s head 20 minutes from DIICSU.
A week after the drills another press release, from the parent South Central University, described how students including those from DIICSU helped to form a giant human hammer and sickle, a symbol of communist revolution, at the university’s stadium for the CCP’s 20th congress.
On the subtropical island of Hainan, students at a Glasgow University JEI were marking the same event. One teacher called for students to unite around the CCP and Xi Jinping and “hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics”. A succession of other senior figures made similar remarks.
Glasgow College Hainan is one of two JEIs set up by Glasgow University with University of Electronic Science and Technology. Students at the college were standing to attention while watching the congress on a livestream.
The China Strategic Risks Institute identified issues at other British-Chinese JEIs including an outpost of Edinburgh University at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. The think tank found ads for a student affairs assistant role whose work would include “ideological and political education and value guidance for students”. The position was open only to CCP members.
Chinese staff at the Aberdeen Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence — a JV between Aberdeen and South China Normal universities — in Foshan, Guangdong, were ordered to attend a workshop on the need to strictly abide by the CCP regulations on disciplinary punishment.
1/2
thetimes.com/uk/scotland/ar