cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/40623924
The Chinese Communist Party is behind a spate of takeovers of British private schools, officials believe.
More than thirty independent schools have been bought by Chinese investors in the past decade and other big purchases are being examined by regulators.
Officials within the Department for Education and security services are thought to be concerned by the trend but sources say they have been hampered by a failure to include China on an enhanced list of countries that pose a risk to the UK’s national security.
A senior government source said: “China is playing the long game and doing all the things we used to do as an empire. They targeted universities before but have realised it’s easier to start younger. It’s ideological warfare. These children will grow up and be helpful to the Communist Party.”
Phil Brickell, a Labour MP who sits on the foreign affairs committee, said Britain’s “world-leading education system is an obvious target for influence” for China and “should be protected accordingly”. He added: “Successive previous governments have misunderstood the strategic threat posed by China. The government must ensure that British interests are safeguarded.”
Sir Keir Starmer has resisted pressure from the security services to place China on the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme (FIRS), designed to track people working for hostile states in the UK.
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The schools listed by Venture include Thetford Grammar School, which dates to 1566 and is now owned by China Financial Services Holdings, and Wisbech Grammar, founded in 1379 and bought by Access Education.
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Malvern St James was bought in February and one month later announced that it would take boys from this September so that it would appeal to the “overseas international boarding market”, which prefers mixed-sex schools.
This was reported to have led to a backlash, with girls at the school wearing pink as a protest.
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Julian Fisher, a former teacher at Harrow Beijing, is a co-founder and consultant at Venture Education, which supports British schools and universities in China.
He said that Labour’s introduction of VAT on private school fees had increased their attractiveness to Chinese investors.
“They know that with the changes to VAT, a lot more schools, likely to be slightly better schools, will become available,” he said.
He added that owners “won’t push curriculum or approach too heavily towards China, perhaps aside from adding the Chinese GCSE, introducing table tennis and celebrating Spring Festival, but they’d also most likely decline a visit from the Dalai Lama”.
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China represents the biggest source of non-British pupils whose parents live overseas and accounts for 6,258 of the 25,526 pupils in this category, according to the Independent Schools Council census published in April this year. This increased from 5,824 the year before.
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Luke de Pulford, from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, however, said: “We need to stop flogging the family silver to China. Chinese investment in our schools comes with strings attached and serves a strategic purpose. Already many schools self-censor in the hope of Beijing’s preferment. This has to stop and government needs to look carefully at protecting our schools from malign influence, not driving them into the hands of adversary states.”
The acquisitions raise questions about asset sales of charities, as many private schools have charitable status.
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With the advent of VAT no longer being exempt from Private Schools, it's no wonder they're getting bought up.