Fitzwilliam College has signed two agreements with a Chinese university, involving a donation of £10 million to the College over the next three years.

Fitz announced on Wednesday (22/04) that Baroness Sally Morgan, the master of Fitz, signed both a collaboration agreement and a funding agreement with Fudan University, a public university in Shanghai, on 20 April in person at Fudan. The chancellor and vice-chancellor also travelled to Fudan to renew the existing memorandum of understanding between Cambridge and Fudan – this was first agreed in September 2019.

Documentation seen by Varsity shows that, as part of the collaboration agreement signed with Fitz, Fudan had originally required a building within the College to be named after it – this demand has since been rescinded, and there will instead be an office in Fitz allocated to the ‘Fudan University Centre’.

The agreements were first discussed in December 2025, and were approved by the Governing Body of the College in February.

The funding agreement details the payment of £10 million by Fudan to Fitz, in annual instalments beginning with £3.3 million in 2026. This agreement was made between Fitz and Fudan’s “charitable entity,” the Fudan Education Development Foundation (FEDF). The money will be donated to FEDF by a Shanghai hedge fund manager, who has previously donated money to Fitz.

However, the documentation also notes potential risks involved in the agreement, which factored into the College Committee’s decision to approve the agreement. It states: “There remains a risk that part or all of the funds donated to FEDF may not be transferred to the College. This could be because either party has triggered the reputational risk clause in the Agreement or for another reason.

It will be important that the College continues to develop a close relationship with […] Fudan […] over the life of the Agreement.”

To address these concerns, the College has proposed to form a “collaboration working group,” which will be responsible for reviewing the relationship between Fitz and Fudan: this will be made up of the bursar, senior tutor, the development director, fellow for research, and Professor David Carwell (a former pro-vice chancellor, and previously head of the Engineering Department).

The College’s impact assessment for both agreements describes the financial effects of the funding agreement as “significantly positive”: it notes that the collaboration between the College and Fudan will form a significant component of the “Future Fitz” campaign, which seeks to raise £40 million by the end of the decade to support both the College’s Estate Plan, and maintaining current academic provisions including the funding of supervisions.

The College’s website details plans for the next seven to nine years for significant renovations across its estate. This includes a £6 million renovation of its Oxford Road sports pavilion, the renovation of several staircases on its main site alongside an extension, and the creation of a new court, South Court, which will incorporate 50 ensuite rooms and a gym for students.

The College’s most recent financial statement, for the financial year ending July 2025, reports a small operating deficit of -£0.38 million, a reduction of the 2024 deficit of -£0.84 million. Despite this, the statement describes the College’s financial position as “stable,” though it notes that it will be further impacted in the 2026 financial year by the initiation of the first phase of the Estate Plan.

Alongside a positive assessment of the financial impact of the agreement, the College’s impact notes several potential risks: these are “Ineffective or incoherent decision making;” “Damaging publicity;” and the “Loss of potential donations through alienation of benefactors and/or damage to the College’s reputation through inappropriate associations”.

To mitigate any potential reputational risk to either Fitz or Fudan, the agreement states that both parties will agree “to avoid any action that could reasonably be expected to bring the other party into disrepute,” and to “promptly notify the other in writing” if they become aware of any event that could affect the other’s reputation. Should this happen, the party concerned can immediately suspend the agreement, with a view to terminate it permanently.

Neither party “should make any press announcement or public statement about the proposals” that has not been agreed on by the other party, and both require permission to use the branding of the other party.

The collaboration agreement extends to an initial period of five years, with the potential for renewal for a further five years on the same terms if both parties agree.

The agreement allows for a maximum of four students from Fudan to apply for visiting student status at Fitz per academic year. Fitz will discount £5,000 from their tuition fees, though these students will have to meet standard admissions requirements.

Alongside this, the Governing Body of Fitz will also consider two candidates from Fudan per year for a visiting fellowship lasting six to 12 months – those successful will receive a 25% discount on their college accommodation. The agreement states: “They will meet academics from many countries and can interact academically and socially with all members of the College and of other colleges and departments”. Upon the completion of their fellowship, they will become “Associate Members”, meaning they are entitled to use college facilities for the remainder of the agreement, for a fee.

Students at Fitz will also be invited to Fudan “for academic exchanges, guest lectures, [and] short-term teaching,” while both Fitz and Fudan will seek to “promote mutual exchanges, including cultural activities, sports, student competitions, and others.”

The documentation details the process the College has followed to achieve regulatory clearance for the agreement, including consultation with the Global Engagement Office and the International Student Office. Deborah Prentice was informed of the intention to sign the agreement in February.

Head of the International Student Office, Anthony Dangerfield, suggested in correspondence with the College that it was not necessary to notify the Office for Students about the agreement.

He also suggested that the agreement fell outside the scope of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS). The FIRS was introduced in July 2025 – according to the government website, it aims to improve “the understanding of activity taking place in the UK at the instruction of a foreign state or certain foreign state-controlled organisations.” There are two tiers. The political influence tier dictates that parties must register with the scheme if they are “instructed by a foreign power to carry out, or arrange for others to carry out, political influence activities in the UK”. The enhanced tier has the same criteria, but also applies to “specified foreign power-controlled organisation[s]”.

Dangerfield suggested that the agreement did not need to be registered with the FIRS because the activities being carried out by Fitz under the agreement did not constitute political influence, and that although the criteria for the enhanced tier “might have been more relevant” in the context, the only specific foreign powers that this tier currently applies to are Iran and Russia.

He advised the College to look at Freedom of Speech guidelines to assess whether any of the guidance applied to aspects of the agreement. Both the University and the College’s free speech policies state that they have “processes in place to identify and manage any risks to freedom of speech or academic freedom arising from the terms of certain overseas funding, including funding from endowments, gifts, donations, research grants and contracts, and educational or commercial partnerships.”

The College also consulted the Research Collaboration Advice Team (RCAT) within the Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology. The RCAT suggested that the University’s memorandum of understanding “could potentially lead to a wide range of activities that require legislative and other considerations. We encourage you to consider these at the early stages of developing each activity and undertake all necessary due diligence,” encouraging the College to consider whether any of the activities outlined in the agreement might fall under the remit of the FIRS.

The advice states that it will be necessary to review each activity proposed in relation to the agreement: “This will be especially relevant as Fudan University has links to military and defence-linked organisations.” These include collaborations between Fudan academics and the National University of Defence Technology in computer research, as well as a symposium held by Fudan’s Research Centre for Global Science and Technology Talent Development alongside a National Defence University research centre.

Fudan University was founded in 1905, and in 2024 it founded a campus in Budapest. In 2019, it removed the phrase “academic independence and freedom of thought” from its constitution, adding in a “pledge to follow the Communist Party’s leadership”, and stating that the University must “equip its teachers and employees” with “Xi Jinping Thought”. It has links to Clare Hall, with whom it signed a memorandum of understanding in October 2025, alongside other UK universities including Durham, LSE, and the London Business School.

A spokesperson for the University said: “China has many centres of academic excellence and innovation, and it is important that the University maintains a relationship of academic exchange on major challenges like climate change and healthcare. The collegiate University will always comply with government regulations to safeguard UK national security, and ensure academic freedom is maintained.”