Chinese University Buys Property in Oxford

source: digitallook.com

Oxford will soon have a major Chinese presence in its academic environment as Peking University plans to set up a campus with a recently-purchased property in the area.

The major branch of colleges will set up a version of its HSBC Business School in the Foxcombe Hall, which Peking has bought for a reported 11 million dollars.

The project will represent the first overseas college of a Chinese business school, and is expected to open its doors in 2018.

Peking University president Lin Jianhua said in a statement that the school hoped to advance its reputation in the international education circles.

"It is our hope that the new initiative in Oxford will further strengthen the school’s international reputation as well as its teaching and research capabilities," Lin said.

The acquisition comes just months after Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a major push towards developing the country’s education, pledging to spend 2.5% of its GDP on research and development by 2020. Peking University itself has been given billions of yuan by Xi’s government to boost its international standing.

Head of the university Hai Wen said that one of the key aims of the new school will be to help European students understand the Chinese economy better.

"Students are having difficulty in understanding many China-specific issues such as the widespread problem of ticket scalping in China," he told Caixin. "The best way to understand this phenomenon is for students to come to study in China and interact with scalpers themselves."

Peking is currently ranked as 29th in the list of the world’s best universities, according to The Times.