Improving "Chinese capabilities" is urgent for the UK

The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), the UK's only independent think tank specializing in higher education research, recently released a new report entitled Understanding China: A Survey of the Current State of China and Chinese Language Learning in UK Schools and Universities (Understanding China), which points out that although the UK has one of the best levels of Chinese language education in Europe, there is still a lack of "China Competence" (China Competence) in the population. The report points out that although the UK has one of the best levels of Chinese language education in Europe, there is still a lack of "China Competence" in the population.

The report's author, Michael Nazler, interviewed more than 40 China experts and business leaders in the UK and concluded that "despite their differing views on China, they were unanimous in stating that the UK lacks an understanding of China."

Rana Mitter, professor of Chinese history and politics at Oxford University, who wrote the foreword to the report, wrote: "The report points to a serious problem in Britain: in the face of China, a huge country with global influence, those who must make complex judgments about China know very little about the country."

Understanding China calls for the British government to recognize the lack of "China competence" as a serious challenge, and to put in place a dedicated national strategy in collaboration with relevant departments such as the Foreign Office, the Department for Education, and the Department for International Trade. At the same time, the UK should encourage primary and secondary school students to learn Chinese, understand China, and choose China studies as their university major and future career.

China-UK "cognitive imbalance"

In recent years, the British government and several high-level think-tank reports have pointed out the importance of "China's competence.

For example, the British government's official report "A Comprehensive Review of Security, Defense, Development and Foreign Policy," released in March 2021, identified "understanding China's capabilities" as a "priority area.

The British Council, the UK's parastatal for cultural exchange, wrote in its 2017 report "Languages of the future: which languages the UK needs most and why" that "there are five languages that will be most important to the UK's strategic interests post-Brexit, with Arabic and Chinese being the most important to enhance to bridge the gap."

They also estimate that since China is an important trading partner for the UK, the lack of Chinese language talent also hurts UK trade, costing the UK hundreds of millions of pounds a year because of this disadvantage.

A report by the UK Foreign Policy Group, an independent think tank, "Resetting the UK-China Connection" (2021), argues that "knowledge of China should be deepened and raised at all levels of society. The UK still lacks momentum in perceiving China, which puts us at a strategic disadvantage."

A report published in 2021 by the Institute for Policy Studies at King's College London, China Matters, states bluntly, "One of the biggest failings of British policy-making is the continued failure to acknowledge our lack of basic understanding of China and Asia. Britain's capabilities in this area are shrinking, not growing."

Understanding China points out that the lack of "China competence" is also an urgent issue because of the "cognitive imbalance" between Britain and China - tens of millions of people in China speak and learn English. There are tens of millions of people in China who speak and study English, while only a few hundred students are studying Chinese and doing Chinese studies in all British universities.

How to increase "Chinese competence"

How can we increase "China competence"?

Understanding China argues that it would help to improve the British public's basic understanding of China's role in the world today; enable a greater proportion of the British population to learn to speak and read Chinese; to enable more British professionals to acquire basic knowledge of China in their areas of work, especially policymakers, civil servants and professionals in climate diplomacy, business and civil society; and to improve the British people's understanding of the core issues of Chinese society. understanding of core issues in Chinese society, such as the workings of the Chinese Communist Party.

Professor Rana Mitter concludes that to make a difference, the UK needs to enhance two types of "China knowledge": "professional knowledge," which is based on an in-depth mastery of Chinese, and in-depth China studies; and "working knowledge," which is not based on an in-depth mastery of Chinese. The other is "work-based cognition," which means that one does not necessarily need to know Chinese, but have a mature knowledge of China in the relevant field of work.

"One thing is certain: in the 1920s, the UK will no longer be able to ignore China ...... post-epidemic world, and China's response to all international issues - from scientific research to global supply chains -- will have a direct impact on the UK. The British public will certainly have its own different opinions about China, but the public dialogue about China cannot just be stress-reactive and superficial. The time has come for the UK to push the China discussion deeper." Mitt writes.

Testing the next generation

Understanding China also points out that "China competence" will also be an "intergenerational challenge" that will test the next generation, with British schools and universities having a key role to play.

Chinese language teaching is currently on the margins of primary and secondary schools in the UK. For a long time, Chinese was not included in the British school curriculum, and some progress has been made since then, but not with full effect. In other words, most primary and secondary school students in the UK do not have much opportunity to learn Chinese and encounter Chinese culture during their school years.

The situation in higher education is also not good.

In his monograph, The Future of UK-China Relations, Professor Kerry Brown of King's College London reveals that in 1999, there were 300 China Studies graduates from universities across the U.K. In 2015, "China alone has long surpassed the U.K. as the world's second-largest economy, the largest exporter, the second largest importer, a major trading partner of over 120 countries worldwide, holder of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves, and the world's top exporter of tourists and international students, while there are still only 300 China Studies graduates in the UK".

A survey by the British Association for China Studies (BACS) shows that the number of undergraduate and master's degree graduates in China Studies in the U.K. has been declining since 2017, and the popularity of pursuing dual degrees in U.K. colleges and universities since 2013 has led to several schools cutting their dedicated China Studies majors and setting them up as just one of their dual degrees.

The China Studies Association has also found that despite the importance of China, China Studies graduates do not have good job prospects in the U.K. "It's very difficult to find a job where you can use Chinese". They are also often less competitive for employment than Chinese students with excellent English language skills.

Underlying all of these problems, Understanding China argues, is the "under-resourcing" of China studies majors in British universities. As much as possible, independent China studies majors should be retained to create better career paths for graduates and to improve faculty salaries so that they have more time to do research.

Several scholars interviewed by Understanding China also suggested that, since Chinese is recognized as one of the most difficult modern languages in the world to learn, to keep more students from giving up on learning about China because it is too difficult, consideration could be given to adding a subject to the British A-levels, "Chinese Culture ". In this way, secondary school students who are interested in China could be attracted to gain an initial understanding of Chinese culture without having to learn Chinese.