The Times - UK (2022-06-13)

Universities will be forced to reveal
investment from “foreign actors” under
plans being put forward by the govern-
ment this week to crack down on undue
influence.
Michelle Donelan, the universities
minister, will set out rules requiring
them to report any financial arrange-
ments they have with individuals or
organisations overseas, “to ensure that
UK values cannot be compromised”.
The change, which will be proposed
today as an amendment to the Higher
Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, is
proposed against a backdrop of univer-
sities accepting money from hostile
nations such as China and Russia.
The threshold for reporting will be
£75,000. Countries in the academic
technology approval scheme, which
certifies foreign students for entry into
the UK to study or conduct research in
sensitive technology-related fields, will
be exempt. These include Nato and
European Union allies, Japan and Aus-
tralia.
Last week The Times reported that
Jesus College Cambridge had accepted
hundreds of thousands of pounds from
an investor who is considered to be one
of China’s most wanted men.
The college has been at the centre of
several controversies involving money
from China. Last month it said it would
rename its China Centre, and promised
to be more transparent about funding
after it was revealed that its director
had trained Communist Party figures
to be better leaders.
The Times reported last year that
three out of four directors at a

prices. However, the link has been

blamed for exacerbating the cost of

living crisis as it has forced customers to

pay over the odds for electricity

because of spiralling wholesale gas

prices linked to the conflict in Ukraine.

With more expansion of nuclear

power and offshore wind generation

due over the next decade, ministers

believe that the pricing system is no

longer fit for purpose. One expert has

called it “unconscionable”.

The Department for Business is

expected to bring forward proposals for

market reform “in the coming weeks”

as part of its energy security strategy.

Legislation will then be introduced in

autumn, within the energy bill.

Government sources said that in the

long run the change would bring down

electricity bills and make the market

“far more stable”. However, they said

the reforms were “fiendishly compli-

cated” and that it was critical to get

them right.

It is estimated that at present prices,

generating power from new renewable

energy is less than a quarter as expen-

sive as gas, and the cost of new nuclear

generation is about half that of gas.

Although many new renewables

Continued on page 2, col 3

Ben Ellery

Monday June 13 2022 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73808

Killed in battle Jordan Gatley, a former British Army soldier, was shot dead fighting for Ukraine in Severodonetsk. Page 11

Universities

facing new

China cash

crackdown

Move ‘to stop UK values being compromised’

Cambridge University research centre

had ties with Huawei, the telecoms

company with alleged links to the

Chinese state.

In March it was revealed that Oxford

University had accepted more than

£3 million in donations from Vladimir

Potanin, a billionaire crony of Presi-

dent Putin who was accused in parlia-

ment of making his money by “robbing

assets from the Russian people”.

Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP

who chairs the China Research Group,

said: “This is a long overdue step

towards transparency at our univer-

sities. The next stage is for UK univer-

sities to stop signing partnerships that

undermine our values and security.”

Universities and students’ unions will

be required to detail such funding

arrangements to the Office for

Students (OfS), which will include a

summary of the information in its

annual report, along with trends and

patterns of concern.

Government sources said the change

to the bill would give the OfS wide-

ranging powers to investigate and take

action against universities that were

found to have inappropriate links with

foreign entities.

It will be able to investigate com-

plaints by academics, students, politi-

cians or journalists, and set conditions

for any relationship with donors seen to

represent a conflict of interest. In ex-

treme cases the OfS could fine universi-

ties that refused to abide by its rulings.

“This gives the OfS similar powers to

police universities’ financial links with

foreign bodies as they currently have

over academic standards,” a source at

Continued on page 4, col 1

Energy market reform will cut fuel bills

Oliver Wright Policy Editor

Ministers are drawing up plans to sever

the link between the prices of gas and

electricity in an effort to cut household

bills for millions of families.

In what would be the biggest reform

of Britain’s power market in decades,

the government proposes to end the

system by which the wholesale cost of

gas in effect determines the price of

electricity for consumers.

More than a quarter of the UK’s

electricity is from renewable sources,

for which costs have been largely

unaffected by rising global energy

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