British Inter-university China Centre: Phase 2

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Investment in the British Inter-university China Centre (BICC) remains of vital national importance. We must look ahead strategically and adapt the UK's priorities swiftly and appropriately to address the research and educational demands arising from China's emergence, as what many today are calling "the Chinese century" unfolds. The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office's 2010 strategy document, 'The UK and China: A framework for engagement', stated bluntly that "China's impact on UK interests is already critical, and it is growing." One of the aims it set out for shaping the UK's response was 'equipping the British people to seize the China opportunity through better understanding of China and better Chinese language skills', and through 'increased educational and scientific links at institutional level between universities, research bodies, colleges and schools, and a greater two way flow of students, academics and researchers'. The objective of BICC's programme of activity is to inform and contribute to these strategically vital processes.In BICC the universities of Bristol, Manchester and Oxford combined forces to develop the UK's premier teaching and research facility on China. Each of the three partner institutions has already embarked on a major investment in this area, thus leveraging the long-term impact that the grant will have. In the course of the five years of the grant, BICC has already delivered 1. A range of cutting-edge research projects on strategic topics;2. An extensive programme for user engagement and the dissemination of research results;3. A comprehensive network of coordinated teaching programmes on modern and classical Chinese language and all aspects Chinese studies.This activity continues and continues to deliver significant and internationally important results. In its second phase, BICC will foreground the building of new knowledge exchange partnerships with non-academic organisations, and the inauguration of new international research networks, in which knowledge exchange activities will be embedded, all of this activity being grounded in language expertise, and supported by a new programme of language training for university and non-university researchers in Chinese studies. Partners who have already committed themselves to hosting student or postdoctoral researcher placements include government (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Meteorological Office), think-tanks and NGOs in the UK and in China (Chatham House, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, chinadialogue, Beijing Little Bird Center), and large corporations (Penguin Books China, John Swire & Sons). Research network partners include organisations in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, France and the UK, will focus through 9 networks on three overarching themes, 'Borders', 'Cultures of Change', and 'History for the Present', and will involve academic and non-academic participants.