It means China now sends more students than any other country, inside or outside the EU, to the UK.
The
120,000 Chinese students are an important source of income for
universities because international students pay fees two to three times
higher than UK students.
The government is keen to attract more students to the UK.
But MPs have warned that universities are naive in underestimating the influence of the Chinese government on campus.
The figures are startling. Since 2014-15, the number of Chinese
students in the UK has grown from 89,540 to 120,385, compared with
26,685 students from India.
But numbers have not yet peaked.
'A wider view'
The
University of Liverpool has been one of the most successful in
recruiting from China, which now provides almost one in five of its
students.
More than a decade ago it was involved in creating a new university in the city of Suzhou, near Shanghai.
Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University runs degree courses which involve students coming to Liverpool for two years.
By the end of the decade, the joint venture is expected to have grown to almost 30,000 students.
Some also choose Liverpool directly - including Renwei Deng, whose
love of The Beatles prompted him to choose it for his degree in
accounting and finance.
Now in his final year, he calls himself Kevin and is part of an all-Chinese band, Mandarin Crisis, that plays in local venues.
He
says: "I wanted to see a different culture, to truly see what I'd seen
on TV about different countries. And I wanted to experience different
values.
"It makes me think more objectively especially about
global matters, I won't see them through only a Chinese perspective,
I'll have a wider view."
But, like all the mainland Chinese
students I meet, Kevin politely but firmly declines to be drawn into
commenting on anything that might be controversial - including the
recent protests in Hong Kong by pro-democracy campaigners.
Censorship concerns
Chinese families often pay for students' British undergraduate courses.
But dozens of postgraduate scholarships are being funded by the Chinese government.
MPs have expressed concerns that universities are not thinking
through the implications of relying on significant amounts of Chinese
money.
The Foreign Affairs Select Committee said they were being
naive about the potential risks around intellectual espionage or freedom
of speech.
Tom Tugendhat, the former committee chairman, says
when a university does a deal to set up a campus abroad or recruit lots
of students, it's not just about bringing in money to the UK.
He
wants universities to engage more with the Foreign Office to get advice.
"In some countries censorship comes with the cash, and in others
control comes with the students.
"Those students will not just be
bringing open minds ready to learn, but also the apparatus of state
control either through direct influence or through pressure exerted on
their families that really is completely foreign to British
universities."
Mr Tugendhat thinks UK universities should follow
the example of some in the US and Australia, which have asked the
Confucius Institute - which promotes Chinese language and culture - to
move off campus.
The recent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have brought issues around freedom of speech to the fore on some campuses.
Speaking anonymously, students at universities in other parts of the UK, said that was something they had experienced directly.
One
said: "If I get identified by the Chinese embassy or government, I
might put the safety of relatives living in China under threat."
There have also been reports of intimidation after posters were put up on campus supporting democracy in Hong Kong.
A
student said: "I've had death threats on mainland people's group chats
saying they'll kill me over things I've put up, saying they'll bring
knives to kill me. They've also harassed me by putting up photos of
where I stay."
And another said: "They are doing things that are
not really acceptable, but everyone seems to be accepting them for what
they are, for the short-term benefits."
While they feel able to
complain, they fear the financial contribution from Chinese students
could make universities reluctant to be firm.
'Too big to ignore'
So would a university such as Liverpool welcome a pro-democracy campaigner to speak at an event on campus?
Prof
Gavin Brown, pro-vice-chancellor at the university said they would want
to be sensitive to relationships with any partner, but ultimately were
part of the academic tradition of free speech in the UK.
"They are welcome. We think it's far better for a university to
provide a place where views can be expressed but also challenged and
debated."
So does he think they are in danger of being influenced
overtly or subtly by the amount of money flowing into the university
from China?
"China is now the second largest research and
development economy in the world. They have a quarter of all research
and development scientists in the world.
"We cannot afford the contributions that Chinese research can make."
In
essence, China is too big to ignore, and has so much money and research
capacity that universities around the world will continue to engage
with it.
