Liverpool announces second China campus partnership

A UK university has announced its second campus in China that will help to double its student numbers in Asia within a decade.

The University of Liverpool will create the new campus in the city of Taicang, near Shanghai, as part of its collaboration with China’s Xi’an Jiaotong University, with whom it has a campus in Suzhou, also near Shanghai.

The Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) campus, which was announced on 2 February during the UK prime minister’s trade visit to China, will open in 2020 and is anticipated to have 6,000 students by 2025.

The Suzhou campus, launched in 2006, is the largest Sino-UK higher education partnership, with about 12,000 students and 1,000 staff. With the new base, XJTLU is expected to have some 24,000 students by 2028, who will receive both UK and Chinese accreditation for their degrees.

Speaking on her visit to China as part of the UK trade delegation, Dame Janet Beer, vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool, said that the new campus will “forge innovative, dynamic relationships between the university, local companies, and society, providing highly skilled, international graduates and contributing to the knowledge economy”.

A key focus of the new project, which is supported by Taicang’s local government, will be to develop graduates in science and technology with expertise in artificial intelligence and robotics who will go on to lead new industries.

Youmin Xi, executive president and pro vice-chancellor of XJTLU, said that the new campus “meets our ambitious mission to develop the ‘University of the Future’, establishing a new relationship between the university and companies, industries, and the wider community”.

The partnership is likely to see more Chinese students study in Liverpool as many XJTLU students opt to finish their degree overseas, with about 3,000 now studying at the University of Liverpool.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com