The University of Gronigen has said it is reconsidering plans for its campus in China following “insufficient support” from the university council to offer full degree programmes at the Chinese institution following concerns about academic freedom.
President of the Dutch university’s board, Sibrand Poppema, said on Monday it “will cancel its plans to offer entire degree programmes under the responsibility of the UG in Yantai. In the near future we will investigate, together with the faculties and degree programmes, which other forms of collaboration are possible in Yantai.”
The campus in Yantai, a port city in Shandong province, eastern China came against opposition from within the university last year. Mr Poppema in November sought to reassure the University Council that the inclusion of a representative of the Chinese Communist party on the board of the Yantai campus “does nothing to alter” the importance of academic freedom and independence.