UK university gets rare green light for partnership in China

The UK's Birmingham City University has become one of just a handful of global institutions to be given approval by the Chinese Government to set up a jointly run higher education institute.

The partnership with Wuhan Textile University will see the Birmingham Institute of Fashion and Creative Arts open to a new intake of 300 students in September 2016. Situated in Hubei's capital city, it will be the first non-profit Chinese-foreign cooperatively run educational institution in the province offering undergraduate programmes.

Over the next seven years more than 3,500 students are expected to study at the institute which will offer degrees in subjects including arts, design and media as well as computing, engineering and the built environment.

Courses will be taught in both Mandarin and English, with students earning internationally recognized UK Bachelor's degrees. Students will also be given the option to spend half their studies in the UK at the University's new campus in Birmingham city centre.

The university is one of 63 across the world to be given the green light to set up a jointly run higher education institute in China. Birmingham joins institutions as Duke University, the University of Michigan and New York University in being able to confer degrees in China. At least 30 other UK universities are believed to have bid for similar approval this year.

Wuhan Textile University is recognized for its creative arts and has been crowned China's top fashion university for the past 15 years. It is ranked 31st globally for fashion and places within the top five in Asia, according to the Textile Fashion journal.

"This alliance between Birmingham City University and Wuhan Textile University draws on our shared academic specialisms – including fashion, art and design – and the heritage of the two host cities, both of which played pivotal roles in the industrial revolutions that transformed the fortunes of the two countries," said Professor Bashir Makhoul, Pro-Vice Chancellor at Birmingham City University.