Artikkelit

04.06.2025

Navigating the Funding Maze for University Collaboration between Finland and China

EU-China cooperation in science and higher education has faced challenges due to differing priorities, leading the EU to restrict China’s participation in applied research funding programs like Horizon. On the Chinese side, support for international university cooperation is mostly general rather than country-specific, provided by agencies such as the China Scholarship Council and the relevant ministries responsible for Education, Science and Technology. Local governments and top-tier universities also contribute funding, especially in major cities. Sector-specific ministries further support targeted international collaborations, but access to funding and partnerships varies across regions and institutions.

A bilateral roadmap for EU-China science, technology, and innovation cooperation has been under negotiation for an extended period. The aim of this roadmap is to define common priority areas, frameworks, and rules in fields such as intellectual property rights, targeting of research funding, openness of research publications, research ethics, and researcher mobility. According to European critics, the slow progress in these negotiations stems from China’s greater eagerness to collaborate in areas where Europe leads, compared to fields where China has taken the initiative. Increasing geopolitical tensions and compliance requirements (e.g., export controls, data security) have increased the concerns regarding cooperation with China. As a result, the EU has taken unilateral and concrete steps to curb these interactions. Perhaps the most visible consequence of this paradigm shift is that China’s participation in the EU’s Horizon program has been more clearly restricted to basic research and very limited areas of applied research. The closer the research is to market-ready products or solutions, the more strictly China’s participation has been limited. This has also significantly affected how Finnish researchers and universities can cooperate with China. 

However, individual member states, including Finland, usually offer some form of support for higher education cooperation with Chinese partners. For the past few years China has been one of the designated countries of Finnish National Agency for Education's (EDUFI) Team Finland Knowledge funding calls, which funds educational cooperation between higher education institutions through cooperation and mobility projects. In addition, Business Finland, together with China’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) hosts the annual Joint Innovation Calls, which are examined in more detail below. Previously the Research Council of Finland also offered funding for researcher mobility together with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). These funding, however, has recently been put on hold.

Although China’s national strategy aims to enhance global influence of its universities through partnerships, joint programs, and attracting international talent, concrete support on the Chinese side for China-EU cooperation is nevertheless rather limited as well. Notably for Finland, with only one exception, China does not offer country-specific research or mobility funding for university-level cooperation between Finland and China. More general support is available, however, at the national, provincial, and institutional levels.

In addition to the aforementioned CAS, the most prominent national-level agencies offering support for the internationalization of higher education and science are the China Scholarship Council (CSC), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). These organizations cooperate with international funding agencies and organizations that foster the internationalization of higher education, such as the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and UK Research and Innovation. Their cooperation includes joint funding calls for joint research programs, scholarships for foreign students in Chinese universities, support for joint PhD programs with overseas universities, and funding for short-term visiting scholar mobility. A notable example of a cooperation initiative co-funded by CAS is the Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research. Often, the challenge with these calls is that they are not always regular, can be limited in scope, and are often not widely advertised internationally, so staying up to date through institutional partners is key. Moreover, in recent years, many of these agencies—most notably the CSC—have been embroiled in controversy, leading many foreign, especially Western, universities and funding agencies to limit or even halt their cooperation with these organizations. Currently there is no ongoing cooperation with relevant Finnish agencies.

In addition to these specialized agencies, national-level ministries responsible for education, science, and technology offer funding for higher education cooperation. Most notably, the Ministry of Education (MoE) provides funding for Sino-foreign cooperation projects such as joint degree programs, development of institutional partnerships, and collaborative curriculum development. A large portion of this funding goes to top-tier Chinese universities, which are part of the party-state’s flagship programs to develop the higher education system (the World First-Class Universities and First-Class Academic Disciplines Construction, collectively known as Double First-Class Construction, 双一流建设). The Double First-Class Construction funding is intended, for example, to support the establishment of joint institutes. Shanghai NYU and Duke Kunshan University, for instance, are joint ventures established under this program.

MoST meanwhile, supports large-scale joint R&D efforts between Chinese universities, research centers, companies, and their international partners. MoST has been especially active in offering internationalization support for projects that are part of China’s Belt and Road development initiative. With few exceptions, European countries have thus far largely refrained from cooperating with MoST under the Belt and Road framework. Other types of cooperation still take place. As of 2025, the aforementioned Joint Innovation Calls (for which universities are also eligible as part of larger consortia) between MoST and Business Finland represent the only Finland-specific funding instrument offered by China at any level. The key focus areas of this funding call are health and agetech, circular economy, and climate change and sustainable development.

Other ministries and government entities also actively support technical and educational exchanges in their respective fields through grants and collaborative projects. In the sports and physical education sector, for example, the Ministry of Commerce has provided funds for athlete and coach exchanges between China and Uruguay, including training programs in China and equipment donations. The General Administration of Sport organizes international events that involve infrastructure investments and partnerships with foreign teams, fostering research and training collaborations. Similarly, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has funded joint research on sustainable agriculture and food safety for Sino-Dutch university cooperation. Sector-specific support has also been offered by agencies such as the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the China National Intellectual Property Administration. As for Sino-Finnish cooperation, The Natural Resources Institute Finland, for example, has cooperated with its Chinese counterparts in water management field research under a funding scheme, in which both sides fund their own side’s work.  

In addition to national-level actors, local governments and provincial education departments also contribute. Especially—and unsurprisingly—localities with a strong focus on internationalization, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Zhejiang, offer localized funding and support for regional cooperation projects involving international partners. These may include hosting international forums, research co-publishing, as well as staff and student mobility. However, regionally established and supported universities do not enjoy the same level of support as state-operated ones, which affects the quality of their teaching and research and, consequently, their desirability as cooperation partners. Beyond local governments, individual universities may also use their own funding for internationalization efforts, particularly the country’s top-tier institutions. For example, the Tsinghua–MIT China Energy & Environment Center was established with direct funding from Tsinghua University.

Text: Olli Suominen
Photo by Olli Suominen: The Chinese Academy of Sciences is one of the central national funding agencies operating in China.