Chinese institutions may benefit if geopolitical tensions with the US lead to students and scholars staying at home, but the country must remain ¡°open¡± to international collaboration, university leaders have said.

Reflecting on the current tensions between the two superpowers, which have escalated to new levels under the current Trump administration, leaders from universities in Hong Kong and mainland China agreed that the new environment brings both challenges and opportunities for their institutions.

Li Jin, vice-president at the Southern University of Science and Technology, said some of his colleagues had debated whether it would be better to ¡°turn inward¡± and focus on the Chinese market in response to policies like Trump¡¯s trade tariffs. But he believed both China and Asia more widely ¡°have benefited tremendously from being open¡±.

¡°It¡¯s not going to do us good to stay national or be isolated from the rest of the world,¡± he told Times Higher Education¡¯s Asia Summit in Macao.

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The university leader said that he believed Hong Kong should be used as a hub for the ¡°free flow¡± of research collaborations, technology transfer and student exchanges.

¡°At the same time, we also have to build a multipolar mindset,¡± he added, saying that collaboration must extend beyond the US, Europe and Australia to other parts of the world such as the Middle East, South-east Asia and Latin America.

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¡°Through that we can have a more robust international footprint that is going to be less affected by the recent¡­unpredictable changes,¡± he said.

Jin Guang Teng, president of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said geopolitical tensions could be ¡°positive¡± for Hong Kong¡¯s universities in terms of student recruitment, with more mainland Chinese students opting to study in the region rather than travel to the US.

In recent weeks, some international students in the US have had their visas revoked, while Trump¡¯s tariffs policy has exacerbated hostility between the countries ¨C with both adding to growing nervousness among Chinese students about studying abroad.

Heightened concerns around national security are also likely to make it harder for academics from China to conduct research in the US or in collaboration with American academics, particularly in areas critical to national development, like AI.

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Teng added, ¡°On the positive side, we have seen a lot more US talents who are of Chinese origin coming back to this part of the world.¡±

His comments came as Asian universities launched recruitment initiatives, focused on hiring academics leaving the US.

¡°This next?10 years is a golden opportunity for Hong Kong and Macao to develop themselves into study-abroad centres,¡± Teng said.

However, Jin warned that the ¡°openness¡± that has benefited Asian universities is under threat.

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¡°With the tension between the two giants ¨C the United States and China ¨C not only on the economic front, but also on the technological front, we see increased concerns about the free flow of knowledge,¡± he said.

¡°I think some narrow-minded politicians might think of these two giants as competitive in the realm of AI, but I see there are a lot of complementarities.

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¡°There should be a lot of synergies from working together and the Asian universities could be the natural connecting point for these synergies to take place, yet we don¡¯t see it.¡±

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com