China’s Peking University opens Oxford campus in UK

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Founded in 1898, China’s prestigious Peking University officially opened its first overseas campus on Sunday in Oxford, an event that also marked the beginning of celebrations commemorating its 120th anniversary this year.

Interior of Foxcombe Hall /Photo via HSBC Business School

Located about five kilometers from Oxford University, the HSBC Business School of Peking University (PHBS) is set at Foxcombe Hall, a 19th-century Hogwarts-like manor house. The university purchased the property for a reported price of 8.8 million pounds last year.

This is the first time a Chinese university has used its own finance to set up and manage a school in a foreign country. The school will offer a two-year master’s program serving both Chinese and non-Chinese students.

China’s ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming /Photo via chinese-embassy.org.uk

Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to the UK attended the inauguration ceremony, calling the campus an important milestone in the history of China’s education exchanges with the rest of the world.

“From China’s 'Belt and Road Initiative,' we can see that China pays attention to the welfare of neighboring countries. We hope to cooperate with Chinese scholars in more fields,” said Keith Burnett, president of the University of Sheffield.

Peking University HSBC Business School Oxford campus /Photo via pic.gmw.cn

The HSBC Business School was founded in 2004 in southern China’s mega-city Shenzhen, with courses focusing on global economics, financial market, and corporate management. Students are supposed to spend their first year in UK and their second year in Shenzhen.

The Oxford campus, which mainly serves students from the UK, will soon complete the recruitment of their first batch of students. It is reported the school would open short-term training courses for senior managers from Europe enterprise in future.

The event was attended by 400 scholars, students, and representatives from China and UK. /VCG Photo

Chinese universities have achieved a lot in cooperating with famous overseas schools, taking University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), jointly run by Nottingham University and Zhejiang Wanli Education Group since 2004 and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) established by the University of Liverpool and Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2006.

At the same time, they are actively “going out,” such as the establishment of the Xiamen University Malaysia Campus and Suzhou University in Laos, Vietnam, reflecting Chinese universities’ global determination.

Peking University’s plan to launch an overseas branch began in 2016. It ranked the 29th on the "World University Rankings 2016-2017" released by Times Higher Education, the world's leading higher education magazine.