Risk Assessment of Safety of Foreign Students

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

Dear Lancaster University,

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

Information Governance,

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Information Governance
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Dear Flo Marks,
Thank you for submitting a request for information from Lancaster University under the
Freedom of Information Act.
Your request ID is: FOI-5393. Please quote this in all enquiries.
We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and this will be
within a maximum of twenty working days from the working day following receipt. If we
do not hold the information you have requested, we will confirm this to you.
If you have supplied an email address, contact will usually be via email, otherwise,
this will be by letter.
Should we require further clarification in order to respond to your request, or if the
request is chargeable, we will contact you. We appreciate your patience while we deal
with your request. If you have an enquiry regarding your request, email:
[email address]
The personal information you have supplied will be stored by Lancaster University
under the terms of the Data Protection Act 2018 and used to process the request.
Lancaster University will never sell personal information or data or share personal
information or data with third parties unrelated to the services we provide unless we
are required to do so by law or unless you have told us you consent to our doing this.
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Information Governance
Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, United Kingdom, LA1 4YW
+44 (0)1524 93247 [email address]
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
[2]Lancaster [3]Lancaster [4]The [6]Lancaster [7]Lancaster [8]Lancaster
University University Student [5]weibo University University University [9]Lancaster
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References

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Freedom of Information,

5 Attachments

Dear Flo Marks,

 

The University received four Freedom of Information requests on Saturday
4^th March, via the website What Do They Know.com, in the time period
15:44 – 16:06. These are outlined below.

 

[1]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/i...
(FOI 5391)

 

[2]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f...
(FOI 5392)

 

[3]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a...
(FOI 5393)

 

[4]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...
(FOI 5394)

 

All of these requests have the similar theme of the University’s potential
relationship(s) with Chinese institutions and entities.

 

We are permitted under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act and
Regulation 5 of the Freedom of Information and Data Protection
(Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 to aggregate the cost of
complying with different requests, made by different persons who appear to
the public authority to be acting in concert or in pursuance of a
campaign, where the information requested relate “to any extent”
(Regulation 5) to the same or similar information which are received
within 60 consecutive working days.

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) consider requests that relate
to the same or similar information, where there is an overarching theme or
common thread running between the requests in terms of the nature of the
information that has been requested, to be eligible to be aggregated for
the purposes of the appropriate cost limit. These requests appear to all
involve the theme of the University’s potential relationship(s) with
Chinese institutions and entities. As these four requests appear to fit
the Commissioner’s guidance for aggregating similar requests from the same
requester, we will be combining the four requests when calculating whether
the appropriate limit is likely to be exceeded.

 

Best wishes,

 

The Information Governance Team

Lancaster University

Email: [5][email address]

 

[6]Lancaster University
[7]Facebook[8]Instagram[9]Twitter[10]LinkedIn

 

From: Information Governance <[email address]>
Sent: 06 March 2023 09:14
To: Flo Marks <[FOI #956922 email]>
Cc: Freedom of Information <[email address]>
Subject: Your Freedom of Information Request ID: FOI-5393

 

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══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Information Governance
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Dear Flo Marks,
Thank you for submitting a request for information from Lancaster University under the
Freedom of Information Act.
Your request ID is: FOI-5393. Please quote this in all enquiries.
We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and this will be
within a maximum of twenty working days from the working day following receipt. If we
do not hold the information you have requested, we will confirm this to you.
If you have supplied an email address, contact will usually be via email, otherwise,
this will be by letter.
Should we require further clarification in order to respond to your request, or if the
request is chargeable, we will contact you. We appreciate your patience while we deal
with your request. If you have an enquiry regarding your request, email:
[12][email address]
The personal information you have supplied will be stored by Lancaster University
under the terms of the Data Protection Act 2018 and used to process the request.
Lancaster University will never sell personal information or data or share personal
information or data with third parties unrelated to the services we provide unless we
are required to do so by law or unless you have told us you consent to our doing this.
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Information Governance
Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, United Kingdom, LA1 4YW
+44 (0)1524 93247 [13][email address]
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
[14]Lancaster [15]Lancaster [16]The [18]Lancaster [19]Lancaster [20]Lancaster
University University Student [17]weibo University University University [21]Lancaster
Facebook link Twitter link Room link icon Instagram YouTube Link LinkedIn Link University
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[22]#LoveLancaster

 

References

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2. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
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4. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/
7. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
8. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
9. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
10. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
11. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/
12. mailto:[email address]
13. mailto:[email address]
14. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
15. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
16. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
17. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
18. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
19. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
20. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...
21. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/
22. https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Information Governance,

[1][IMG]
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Information Governance
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Dear Flo Marks,
Further to our previous correspondence with regards to aggregating the four requests
recently submitted to the University (FOI 5391, 5392, 5393 & 5394), we believe that to
provide you with the information requested within this combined request will exceed
the £450 appropriate cost limit and is therefore exempt under section 12 of the
Freedom of Information Act. In line with our section 16 duty to advise and assist
requesters, we would advise you to significantly narrow the parameters of the
information you are requesting, e.g. the details of accepted donations, gifts, grants
and research funding (worth over £5,000) to your University from Chinese and Hong Kong
entities.
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
The University aims to comply fully with its obligations under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and to ensure that the service it provides for those wishing to
gain access to information is helpful and effective.
The personal information you have supplied will be used only to process your request;
some details will be retained for our records after the request has been answered.
Only staff who are involved in processing your request will have access to this
information and this information will not be passed on to other parties unrelated to
the University unless we are required to do so by law, or where it would be necessary
to answer the request in full (in which case we would seek your consent for any
transfer).
Information Governance
Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, United Kingdom, LA1 4YW
+44 (0)1524 93247 [email address]
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
[2]Lancaster [3]Lancaster [4]The [6]Lancaster [7]Lancaster [8]Lancaster
University University Student [5]weibo University University University [9]Lancaster
Facebook Twitter link Room link Instagram YouTube Link LinkedIn University
link icon icon link icon Icon link Icon Link Icon Logo
icon
[10]#LoveLancaster

References

Visible links
1. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/
2. http://www.facebook.com/lancasterunivers...
3. https://www.twitter.com/LancasterUni
4. http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdis...
5. http://e.weibo.com/lancasteruni
6. http://instagram.com/lancasteruni/
7. http://www.youtube.com/lancasteruniversi...
8. http://www.linkedin.com/edu/school?id=12...
9. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/
10. https://twitter.com/search?q=LoveLancaster