A recent investigation by the German non-profit site Correctiv, which examined the ties between professors at RWTH Aachen University and China, has reignited the debate about relations between German research institutions and the People’s Republic.“The findings describe the tip of the iceberg. As far as investigative research is concerned, other countries, such as the UK […]
The German government’s China strategy emphasizes the need to expand China expertise in Germany. Remarks made by Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger, who suspects that the Communist Party is behind every researcher, show that there is plenty of room for improvement in the government’s own China expertise. Such statements are tendentious and risk suggesting a generalized […]
With regard to Germany’s China strategy, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) is calling on the German government to focus more on local governments. In a recent study, the FES specifically recommends maintaining the Confucius Institutes at German universities, more financial resources for local governments and better networking between the federal, state and local governments to […]
Germany’s academic system is about to completely fail when it comes to maintaining and developing expertise in China. This is the slightly exaggerated diagnosis of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which published new recommendations for academic cooperation with China on Monday. These recommendations are intended as guidelines for universities, but the preceding analysis of […]
Research collaboration between the EU and China continues to increase even during times of de-risking. This resulted from a recent study on joint publications by European and Chinese researchers on digital topics and artificial intelligence in various disciplines. According to the study, the output of co-publications has been consistently increasing since 2011. The vast majority […]
German Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger has once again called for vigilance in scientific cooperation with China. “The Communist Party could be hiding behind every Chinese researcher, we have to be clear about that,” the liberal politician told the German newspaper “Die Welt.” For this reason, she stated, it is necessary to review existing cooperative relationships, […]
In an editorial for the German daily FAZ, German Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger urged scientific institutions and universities at the beginning of the week to “review previous practices and question existing ways of thinking” when working with China. Germany must not be naïve when dealing with a regime that “proclaims the goal of transferring the […]
On 18 July, the German Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (HSBI) made a big announcement: The founding of the first independent foreign university in China, located on the tropical island of Hainan. And the city of Bielefeld suddenly shifted into the focus of the debate on Sino-German academic relations.While the University of Erlangen has recently […]
According to information from the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), several German universities are considering refusing to accept young Chinese academics with a scholarship from the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC). These are government scholarships awarded by the Chinese Ministry of Education. “There are currently concrete considerations at other universities to exclude CSC scholarship holders, at least […]
The timing seems odd: Less than a week after the publication of the China Strategy, in which the German government sets stricter limits for scientific cooperation, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (HSBI) has announced plans to found its own university on the Chinese tropical island of Hainan.This was first reported by German media. At the […]