Groningen University has dropped plans to open a campus in Yantai, China. The university board says there is not enough support for the plan and it will not now submit the proposal to the education minister for approval.

University president Sibrand Poppema said in a statement: ‘In the near future we will investigate, together with the faculties and degree programmes, which other forms of collaboration are possible in Yantai.’

Poppema did not say any more about the concerns of Groningen academic staff and students, but some were worried about the academic independence of the Chinese campus.