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<p>When it comes to opening Confucius Institutes (CIs) universities navigate uncertainty, from the prospects of cultural exchange to concerns voiced by those who see CIs as a form of ‘soft power’. Drawing on sociological and institutional theories, I explore whether changing notions of university autonomy and market-oriented reforms can help predict universities’ positioning towards CIs. Using organisational data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (UK) and data on the spread of CIs available in China’s Global Public Diplomacy Dashboard Dataset (CGDD) provided by the AidData institute, I carry out a systematic quantitative investigation of the institutional-level determinants of CIs across 109 UK universities in the early 2000s. It is found that CIs are concentrated in universities with strong reputations, with the interesting exception of ancient universities, and in universities which rely on fees from international students, net of institutional-level differences. The results show that the emphases on institutional and financial autonomy collide into a new understanding of what it means to be a reputable university, which is consequential for how universities relate to society and navigate uncertainty.</p>

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Universities reacting to Confucius institutes: a window into how institutional and financial autonomy matter

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月2日

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  • Roxana-Diana Baltaru

摘要

When it comes to opening Confucius Institutes (CIs) universities navigate uncertainty, from the prospects of cultural exchange to concerns voiced by those who see CIs as a form of ‘soft power’. Drawing on sociological and institutional theories, I explore whether changing notions of university autonomy and market-oriented reforms can help predict universities’ positioning towards CIs. Using organisational data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (UK) and data on the spread of CIs available in China’s Global Public Diplomacy Dashboard Dataset (CGDD) provided by the AidData institute, I carry out a systematic quantitative investigation of the institutional-level determinants of CIs across 109 UK universities in the early 2000s. It is found that CIs are concentrated in universities with strong reputations, with the interesting exception of ancient universities, and in universities which rely on fees from international students, net of institutional-level differences. The results show that the emphases on institutional and financial autonomy collide into a new understanding of what it means to be a reputable university, which is consequential for how universities relate to society and navigate uncertainty.