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The English regulator is to outline what is expected of universities with regards to free speech when they work with foreign parties.

Amid enhanced scrutiny over how much influence countries such as China have over institutions, the Office for Students (OfS) has announced it is taking action to ensure any arrangements in place do not restrict universities’ obligations to uphold academic freedom.

The “statement of expectations” – set to be in place for the new academic year – will focus on the contracts and arrangements universities have with foreign states and institutions in other countries, the regulator said.

It will ensure that universities are meeting freedom of speech and academic freedom requirements within such arrangements.

A working group will be set up involving students, university leaders and academic staff with relevant expertise and will feed into the development of the statement.

Vice-chancellors were called to a briefing by MI5 director general Ken McCallum earlier this year to discuss foreign interference.

The government has also launched a range of new measures including a new whistle-blowing platform to allow suspicious approaches to be reported.

It comes after reports of students and staff being intimidated and harassed on UK campuses if they are researching sensitive topics connected to China.

Sheffield Hallam University was forced to apologise last year to one of its academics, Laura Murphy, after her work on Uyghur Muslims was blocked from being published in part because of the institution’s commercial interests in China.

Arif Ahmed, director for freedom of speech and academic freedom at the OfS, has made foreign interference a priority, spending much of the end of last year grilling leaders about their links to China, particularly Chinese government-funded scholarships and Confucius Institutes.

Commenting on the latest announcement, Ahmed said that English higher education was “world leading, and enjoys a global reputation for excellence, in large part because free speech and academic freedom are at the heart of everything it does”. 

“It is therefore not surprising that in recent years foreign states and hostile institutions have sought to exploit the sector in ways that threaten our liberty, our values and our security,” he added.

“Without free speech and academic freedom there is no higher education. It is therefore vital for the survival of the sector that these attempts fail.”

Ahmed said the new statement of expectations further build on previous OfS guidance to help universities and colleges “should they decide to enter agreements with foreign states and institutions”. 

“If they do so, they must ensure these arrangements uphold our expectations around freedom of speech and academic freedom.”

He said that the working group will “work collaboratively and constructively as we take this important work forward”.