Risk Assessment of Safety of Foreign Students

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, University of Leeds should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear University of Leeds,

Could you confirm whether your university has any formal guidelines for ensuring the safety of students from surveillance or coercion from those acting on behalf of foreign governments (for example, safety from surveillance, blackmail, forced pledges of loyalty and being reported on by fellow students)? If so, please provide access to this document.

We are especially interested in two particular examples of transnational repression of Chinese students that have been reported on in the media:

1) Has your organisation evaluated the possible risk posed by Chinese Student and Scholar Associations given evidence that they have surveilled other students, organised counter protestors and acted upon orders from the Chinese Embassy?
Examples:
https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/06/30/th...
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019...

2) Are you aware of how many international students are receiving funding from the Chinese Scholarship Council stream? The CSC is part of the Chinese education ministry and organises foreign exchange programmes and international studies for Chinese students.
Have you investigated the possible risk posed to students involved with this programme given recent evidence that agreements students sign include pledges of loyalty to the party state and threaten students’ parents with debt if they fail to complete their studies?
Details: https://thepienews.com/news/chinese-stud...

Has your institution ever had to deal with a case where a student was put at risk of transnational repression and can you provide details of how your institution dealt with this situation? Feel free to keep the identity of the student anonymous.

Yours faithfully,

Flo Marks

Freedom of Information, University of Leeds

Dear Flo

Freedom of Information request reference L/23/090

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

The University of Leeds aims to respond to all FOI requests within 20-working days of receipt. If this timeframe changes, I will write to provide you with an update.

The information you have requested may already be published on our website. The following links may be of use to you:

* Publication scheme - a range of information about the University, including our annual reports and accounts, and information about our staff and structure
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Regards

Freedom of Information Officer

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