During the roundtable, Sohail Shaikh, Sector Director and Minister Counsellor, Creative, Consumer, Learning and Food Industries of DBT, spoke about the significance of the education sector to the work of DBT. Sohil stated that the international education sector offers opportunity for mutually beneficial cooperation and investment, and that the UK has the potential to thrive in this area.

Kiran Patel, Senior Director, Commercial at the China-Britain Business Council played tribute to the excellent work that UK Higher Education Institution representatives have done throughout the past 3 years, maintaining respectable student numbers, continuing to build critical partnerships and maintaining positive perception and attractiveness of UK higher education in the China market under challenging circumstances.

He also shared optimism following an invigorating trip around Jiangsu and Shanghai that China is very much reopen for business, and that now is the time to converse and coordinate on collaboration opportunities for the upcoming year. 

Kiran also eagerly awaits visits from UK based university representatives now that they can visit China without restrictions. It is positive to see that the sector has been proactive deploying international office representatives and senior staff on China visits. These developments set us up for an exciting and successful year ahead. 

The representatives from UK universities shared their insights on the trends and challenges in the international education sector and explored a variety of topics related to the UK-China higher education market collaborations. This included; the Chinese students' perception of UK education, agents’ capabilities, research collaboration with China, transnational education partnerships, operational changes from the impact of Covid, and the expectations from China's reopening.  Attendees discussed how universities are adapting to the ever-changing market dynamics and exchanged ideas and best practices. The roundtable provided a platform for participants to explore potential collaborations between the UK and Chinese education markets.

According to Si Su, Head of Education, DBT is dedicated to assisting UK universities in promoting themselves in the Chinese market whether through market access and or complex business environments. Isabel Xu, Director Knowledge Economy at CBBC spoke on the council's commitment to supporting China-UK higher education cooperation in the coming year, including the upcoming UK-China Business Forum in March and promoting the industry-university-research plan in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) region. The members were enthusiastic about the future potential of the international higher education market in 2023 and beyond and is committed to working together to achieve their goals.