China-critical UK academics describe ‘extremely heavy’ pressure from Beijing

Reliance on overseas students' tuition fees under scrutiny as scholars describe chilling effect of being targeted

UK academics whose research is critical of China say they have been targeted and their universities subjected to extremely heavy" pressure from Beijing, prompting calls for a fresh look at the sector's dependence on tuition fee income from Chinese students.

The academics spoke out after the Guardian revealed this week that Sheffield Hallam University had complied with a demand from Beijing to halt research about human rights abuses in China, which had led to a big project being dropped.