Funding in UK for Higher Level Non-Scientific China-Related Studies

Funding in UK for higher level non-scientific China-related studies

The British Association for Chinese Studies

November 2013

The November 2013 original version of this report was commissioned by the Universities’ China Committee in London (UCCL).The report is owned and updated by the by the British Association for Chinese Studies (BACS) with financial support from UCCL. The original report was compiled with the assistance of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United Kingdom.

The original content of this BACS-owned and UCCL-commissioned report owned and updated by the British Association for Chinese Studies may be used provided the source and authorship is acknowledged.

Should you wish to inform BACS of any information that may be missing from the report, or of any corrections, please contact the BACS web manager through the ‘contact us’ section of the BACS website ( Suggested changes will normally be incorporated in the next version of the report.

Report author: Tracey Fallon

Contents

Executive Summary

Aims of the survey

Section 1: Assessing Need – Present state of China-related studies in the UK

1A. Numbers Studying Chinese Studies in the UK

1.B. Chinese Focused Programmes at UK HE Institutions

Undergraduate level

Postgraduate level

Comparison of UG and PG courses

1.C. Chinese Nationality Students in the UK

1.D. Universities with China-focus dedicated departments and research centres/networks

Section 1: Summary

Section 2 A: The survey of Funding

Sources

The Face of Funding

Section 2B. The Funding for China-focus research and study

Discussion and Conclusion

Table of Funding 1: UK based and China-Specific

Table of Funding 2: UK based, non-China specific

Table of Funding 3: UK based, non-China specific, with narrow eligibility

Table of Funding 4: For PRC students and scholars to come to the UK for study or research

Table of Funding 5: Prizes and Awards

Appendix 1: Total numbers of Students enrolled on Chinese Studies subject in 2011/12

Appendix 2: Undergraduate course offerings with China-focus

Appendix 3: Postgraduate course offerings with China-focus

Executive Summary

CHINESE STUDIES IN THE UK

• According to HESA’s figures, 1465 F/T enrolments were in Chinese Studies in 2011/12: 385 PG (including PGRs), 1070 UG and 10 other UG (Appendix 1 in report).
• Student numbers have increased from the previous two years (Table 1 in report).
• A survey of course offering in UCAS showed 29 institutions with a Chinese related subject area. Popular course offerings are joint honours with another discipline area or another language. (Appendix 2 in report). This suggests a large amount of institutions competing for a growing yet limited amount of students.
• A survey of postgraduate courses found that China courses were mainly of contemporary China or with a professional specialism such as Chinese business, translation etc. (Appendix 3 in report).
• There appears to be capacity for institutions in the UK to build on their expertise and expand course offerings at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. However, it is questionable whether that would be necessary based on current enrolment figures.
• China-focus departments, centres and research groups are spread across the UK - mainly within the Social Sciences and Art and Humanities areas (see Section 1D in report for a list).
• Numbers of students from mainland China studying in UK HEIs have continued to grow year on year: in 2011/12 the number reached 78,715 (see Table 2 Section 1 C).

THE SURVEY & FINDINGS

• The Survey: The survey carried out an online search of funders, the Charity Commission website, scholarship sites, universities, and government organisations and also includes results of email and letter correspondence
• Relevant funding sources, scholarships and programmes are organised into tables at the end of this report presented according to location of applicant and relevance to China-related research area (Tables of Funding 1-5).

Findings:

• Government funding. Chinese government funding far outweighs that of the UK both in bringing students from China to study in the UK, and as well as sending students to China. There is a new programme from the PRC which also funds researchers. The Taiwan programmes are also large providers of funding for language and degree programmes.
• Many discipline based associations offer funding for conference of prizes for papers and fieldwork etc. At present the Chinese Studies association BACS does not provide similar funding which may put some China-area studies researchers at a funding disadvantage.
• There is a drop-off in income and funding provision from some charitable trusts possibly due to the global financial crisis
• Corporate funders still provide scholarship funding but their number is limited.

There is a growing number of students, research networks and number of universities involved in China-related study and academic exchange. Meanwhile, some charitable funders have fewer funds to give and China-specific funding forPG and above level of academic research is limited. This means greater demand for restricted resources against encouraging developments in UK-China teaching and research activity at UK HEIs.

The FUNDING IN UK FOR HIGHER LEVEL NON-SCIENTIFIC CHINA-RELATED STUDIES

Aims of the survey

The Universities’ China Committee in London is an educational grant-giving charitable trust which was established in 1925; its role was formalisedby Royal Charter in 1932. Its mission is to provide for two way academic exchangebetween the UK and China and also to encourage China focussed studies in the UK. The aim of this survey is to look at the funding, by educational and charitable bodies,of UK-China scholarly exchange and research and thereby obtain an overview of current provision of funding. Thestudy has been commissioned by the UCCL so that it can assess if its own grant-giving is to the most relevant and needy areas within the parameters of its charter. The report is updated and owned by the British Association for Chinese Studies. The focus of the survey is on post-graduate level studies and above. For the purpose of this study, China includes the SARs of Hong Kong and Macau, but not Taiwan. In some instances, undergraduate and language bursaries are included when directly related to the study of China.

This report is divided into two sections: the first examines the state of the field of Chinese Studies; the second presents a survey of available funding.

Section 1: Assessing Need – Present state of China-related studies in the UK

In order to assess the demand for funding at different educational levels within HE, it is necessary to first have an overview of China-related studies in the UK. There is great difficulty in gaining an accurate picture of study and research about China and academic exchange. The object of scholarship is a singular state, and as such, research and academic exchange activitiescan be situated within any topic, discipline, partner relationship, or institution.Hence, researchers in disciplines across the arts and humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and medicine may be carrying out research with a China focus. Any UK institution may be engaged in academic exchanges and collaborative projects with partners based in China. The range of China-focus study, research and UK-China academic exchange with the UK is extensive.

As the situation of China-related research and study is diverse, this report presents an overview of the state of the field through an examination of student numbers, institutions, research activity and Chinese international students to the UK.

1A. Numbers Studying Chinese Studies in the UK

Figureson students enrolled in Chinese Studies Higher Education (HE) level are provided by The Higher Education Statistical Authority (hereafter HESA).Chinese Studies is located in HESA’s statistics as language studies and not social studies (economics, politics, sociology etc.), nor business and administrative studies which are counted separately. The HESA figures can only provide an impression of student numbers on Chinese studies programmes in the UK as the numbers have been apportioned, reflecting students studying Chinese as single honours, joint and as a third[1]. Hence, these figures do not refer to individuals but rather have been arrived at through the calculation process. Also of note is the figures will not contain doctoral students working on a China-focus research topic located in another discipline area, e.g. a doctoral student working on an aspect of Chinese politics who is registered in the politics department of a university. In 2011-12 a total of 1,465 students were enrolled in Chinese Studies full-time, of which 385 were PG students. 300 of the PGs were in their first year, meaning that 85 were second year post-graduates and doctorate students[2] (see Appendix 1 for detailed figures). In2011/12a total offive doctorate degrees and 225 total first degrees[3] were awarded in Chinese studies. While these numbers are not substantial, it does appear that student numbers on purely Chinese-studies style courses are on the rise. Table 1a shows the increase in numbers of first year undergraduates from 2009 over three years. A similar trendcan be seen for PG students, the number of which nearly doubled between 2009-2012 entry. Yet, it is too early to predict if this rise will be a continuing trend.

Table 1a: Year on Year comparison of full-time first year undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in Chinese Studies in the UK[4].

2009/10 / 2010/11 / 2011/12
First year
First degree (UG) / 265 / 290 / 330
First year PG / 145 / 185 / 300

There are several factors which affect enrolments in Chinese Studies. Tuition fees rose for2012/13 entry students following education reforms in that year. Overall student enrolments were initially affected with a drop in 2012-13 enrolments, butUG applications rose again for 2013/14[5].It cannot be said at present what this means for Chinese-related studyuntil enrolment figures for both years are released. For overall PG courses, recent data shows that the number of UK students taking up PG studies dropped in 2012-13 by eight per cent mainly due to a downturn in part-time enrolments[6]. Part-time study is a much smaller percentage of those studying Chinese studies (N 20 compared to 385 F/T in 2011/12 see Appendix 1), thus it is unlikelythat a drop in P/T enrolments will have any impact on the area of Chinese studies.Certainly, a separate issue of concern is how many UK students are taking up Chinese Studies at PG levels to determine what future UK-based expertise there will be.Unfortunately, the data examined does not revealstudent numbers by subject and domicile status. In the author’s own PG professional networks in Chinese studies, UK students are usually recipients of UK research council funding and are a smaller percentage of the totalPG student body.Further research is required to determine the place of UK students in China research at PGR level.

Another consideration on student course choices is the ‘Beijing Olympics effect’following the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This refers to a greater public awareness of China either as an opportunity as an “economic powerhouse” or competing “superpower” that leads to a greater uptake in China-related courses. This is reliant on the continuation of China’s economic growth and public interest.

Growth in Chinese studies enrolments has to be considered in comparison with other subject areas in the same category. Table 1b below shows a comparisonof F/T first year enrolments between Chinese studies and other language and area studies. Certainly, Chinese Studies at PG level has a greater amountof students but of note is UG enrolments are substantially less. Compare Chinese Studies with popular subjects like English (PG 2,595, UG 14, 865), History by period (PG 1,855 and UG 10,820), Computer Science (PG 4,895; UG 16,145), Psychology (PG 5,975; UG 18,600) and the difference is even more marked.The final consideration is the figures presented here do not separate UK and overseas students, so students from China interested in studying about their country in the UK will be included here. As will be shown in section 1D, numbers of Chinese students has grown substantial, thus could be influencing the rise in Chinese studies numbers. With these caveats in mind, it can be generally stated that enrolments in Chinese studies are growing.

Table 1b. 2011/12 First year full-time enrolments. Comparison between Chinese and other language and area studies subjects[7]

Subject / PG / UG
Chinese Studies / 300 / 330
Spanish Studies / 50 / 1595
Classical Studies / 275 / 1400
American Studies / 145 / 880

1.B. Chinese Focused Programmes at UK HE Institutions

Undergraduate level

A survey of programmes offered at UG level through the UCAS catalogue was carried out in late April/Early May 2013. Using the search terms “China” and “Chinese”, the course offering for Home and EU students were examined and compiled into a table by institution. Appendix 2 shows which universities in the UK offer the study of China and Standard Chinese language as a single subject, joint or as a third pathway. In total 29 institutions offer a China-focus degree, with an additional university offering a year in China as part of a degree in law. Dual degree courses with Chinese and another subject is the most common course offering. Popular courses are in combination with international politics, business and management, film and TV studies, and with other languages. There is also a course in Chinese Traditional Medicine at Middlesex that offers language as part of the degree. As a point of reference, a search of UCAS course offerings for the year 2000 found 13 institutions offered programmes under the language heading Chinese. A further three institutions offered Asian Studies Programmes; three offered Asia Pacific Studies, and two offered programmes in East Asia Studieswithin areas studies[8]. It is possible that there is some overlapin the count of institutions offering Chinese language and the area studies as the names of institutions are not given. Replicating the 2000catalogue survey for comparison is not possible as the expansion of course offerings means the categories have changed (for example, look for category “Chinese” in the UCAS 2013 and as well as the choice of Chinese as a single subject,there is also Chinese Studies, Mandarin Chinese, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chinese Civilisation as additional categories). This attests to the variety of programmes presently on offer with a China-focus and suggests a greater total number of institutions are offering Chinese-related programmes than previously.

From the list of UG institutions offering a China-focus course, it is possible to identity a new wave of universities entering into Chinese Studies specialism, such as Bangor, Birmingham, Chester, De Montfort, Goldsmiths, Hull, Nottingham Trent, European Business School London[9], Lancaster, Portsmouth and UCLAN. These institutions augment the first new wave of China-focus studies centres established in 2004 at Manchester and Southampton. The larger number of courses in joint degrees seems to suggest that universities are responding to, or aiming to attract, students that wish to acquire Chinese language skills with a discipline. These differ from traditional sinology courses as studentswill study Chinese language as an adjunct to career areas such as media, business, political scienceetc. This continues the direction for study of China highlighted in the Hayter commission of 1961, which called for a study of contemporary China[10]but with the present-day emphasis on employability for the student.

Postgraduate level

Postgraduate China-focus studies likewise indicate a trend in course offerings for Chinese language skills with professional and discipline based training. A search for the terms “China” and “Chinese” was carried out on the courses section of Prospects, a graduate careers website,in early May 2013. Prospects is not the only website that contains a directory of PG courses, however it is one of the better knownand long established ones, and so this directory is used. Courses thatonly described students or Chinese partners were eliminated. Included are courses in translation and interpreting for which Chinese to English or English to Chinese is a component because of the UCCL’s interest in promoting Chinese language learning. The results were then cross-referenced and duplicate listings eliminated. The courses are presented by institution in Appendix 3 (Appendix 3, Table a, b and c). It should be noted that there is a fee to universities to advertise on Prospects, hence this cannot be considered a definitive list of all China-related courses in the UK. It only presents advertised courses paid for by the institution on that particular month.Degrees by research such as MLitt, MPhil and doctorate degrees are much less likely to be advertised on Prospects as potential research students will be independently searching foracademic staff who could supervise their research proposal. Despite these limitations, the results offer a “broad-brushstrokes” view of the variety and discipline area offerings for PG study with a China focus in the UK.

Taking these course listings as a sample, a few observations about China-focus studies at post-graduate level can be made:

1)As can be seen in the tables in Appendix 3, there is a great variety of courses. Sinology/Chinese Studies is a much smaller proportion of course offerings. The main focus is on Mandarin with professional and disciplinearea training. Discipline areas include law, politics and international relations, business, and film and TV, arts, science, Chinese medicine and interpreting. Business and politics areas are more frequently offered.The Hayter Commission of 1961 called for an emphasis on studies of modern Asia through expanding the range of study to include social sciences subjects particularly economics, politics, sociology and geography[11].The overview of PG as well as the UG offerings on UCAS suggests that the aims of the Hayter Commission is now the norm (if Business is also included which was not originally envisioned), whereas traditional sinology is now the minority.

2)Many Universities like Bath and Swanseahave built on expertise in translation and added Mandarin-English translation to their course offerings. These courses are likely to be mainly attended bynative Chinese speakers. Table 4.b. shows eight institutions that offer translating and interpreting type courses in Chinese but not courses in other areas. Similar to the point made above, this course aims to provide qualifications for a specific, and in this case, professionalised area.

3)The educational institutes of auctioning houses Sotheby’s and Christies are offering PG qualifications in Chinese art. These degrees may suit those with an interest in Chinese art but also for those who hope to work in the art trade.

4)Many institutions are benefiting from links with Chinese partners and offer summer schools or periods abroad in China as part of their PG degree.