Dear University of Oxford,

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