About HECEA

Organization Introduction

The Higher Education Chinese Employees Association (HECEA) was initiated by Dr. Jie Liu at UCL Institute of Education and formally established in October 2021. HECEA serves Chinese employees in UK universities and research institutions as a neutral, non-profit, and non-religious public-interest organization.

HECEA is co-managed by volunteer Chinese scholars in the UK. Dr. Jie Liu leads overall strategy and operations. Professor Yang Hong (University of Reading) has been a core supporter and advisor, providing ongoing guidance on strategy and organizational development from the association’s earliest stages.

HECEA focuses on building a comprehensive academic community that integrates academic exchange, resource sharing, and career development support. It has become a highly inclusive and interdisciplinary mutual-support platform for Chinese professionals in UK academia.

Since its launch, HECEA has gathered more than 270 members from over 50 universities and research institutions, including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, King’s College London, UCL, Manchester, and Edinburgh. More than 97% of members hold doctoral degrees.

The membership includes experts, scholars, and education professionals across multiple levels, ranging from fellows of major academies to admissions and student-affairs professionals in UK universities. Members’ research and practice fields are broad, including economics, artificial intelligence, environmental science, finance, low-carbon construction, electronic engineering, computer science, chemical engineering, aerospace, materials science, data science, sociology, education, and linguistics.