Foreign autocratic interference in western academia: a closer look into the British case

Albeit rising concerns regarding foreign interference in a set of strategic areas of western society,its effects on academia in particular have been both understudied and underestimated. Hence, the aim of thisacademic paper is to shine a light on the widespread impacts and risks associated with western universities’increasing exposure to foreign autocratic influence and how that may ultimately affect academic freedom.This paper argues that the tendency towards western universities’ growing dependency on internationalstudents, as well as on the donations and investments of external actors poses a financial and academic riskin the long-term. This is especially true in the British case, which has experienced a surge in the number ofinternational students, particularly Chinese students, in the last decade. However, the increasing visibility ofcases that constitute either direct or indirect foreign interference in academia is an opportunity for westerngovernments to assess their academic institutions’ vulnerabilities, especially their links to autocratic regimes.Ultimately, western governments and academic institutions must jointly strive to cooperate in developingand accepting a set of universal guidelines in order to ensure that academic freedom is not compromised.