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Around 160 visitors from 60 UK universities joined the 2-day event on the Sussex campus

Sussex Associate Director of Global Engagement Gemma Proudley chaired one of the panel sessions

Last month, the University of Sussex was honoured to host the 2026 UK Member Meeting of the UK-China Joint Institute Alliance in collaboration with colleagues from the The University of Edinburgh. Sussex colleagues Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof. Michael Luck and Executive Dean Prof. Luc Moreau welcomed 160 representatives of more than 60 UK universities to our campus and to Brighton. We were honoured to also welcome Leina Shi from the British Council China, Griff Ryan, Head of TNE at Universities UK International and Ms. Zhou Wei, Minister Counsellor for Education at the Embassy of China in the UK.

Discussions over the 2 days of the conference were incredibly fruitful and highlighted the commitment of UK universities to strengthening UK-China collaboration in transnational education. The topics of the various panel sessions included a discussion on the next phase of UK-China TNE, how to assure quality and student outcomes at scale for TNE students, managing growth across established and new joint institutes and how to redefine the value of UK-China Joint Insitutes in the AI Era.

The event also highlighted the real momentum taking place in the expansion of UK-China Joint Institutes across the country. Twenty five joint institutes have been established since October 2025 alone, in multiple provinces across China, in a variety of academic disciplines including business and management, the creative industries, digital technologies, and health and biomedical sciences.

As well as participating in the incredibly productive panel sessions, Sussex colleagues were delighted to have more informal discussions with colleagues at evening events at the Brighton i360 and Brighton Pier which gave our visitors the chance to experience Brighton looking its absolute best in the glorious May sunshine. A huge thank you from everyone at Sussex to everyone who took part in the conference and to colleagues from The University of Edinburgh for trusting us as the hosts of such a prestigious event. We look forward to continuing the discussions with TNE colleagues at the next UK member meeting in 2027.

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