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The producers of a Chinese sitcom have been forced to apologise to the University of Nottingham after appearing to portray the university in a negative light for a storyline.

An episode of the television show, the name of which roughly translates as ¡°Road Turns White Since Tonight¡±, features a character who is an alumnus of the institution's Ningbo campus and seemingly disparages the university¡¯s academic standards. ¡°I was also at Nottingham University for four years," he says. "I understand my fellow classmates very well ¨C they need only hand in their assignments on time to get their hands on a degree certificate.¡±

Chris Rudd, the provost for Nottingham¡¯s campus in Ningbo, said that the incident demonstrated a ¡°deliberate misrepresentation and breach of trust¡±. The university had granted permission for filming to take place on campus, he added, but had reportedly never granted permission for the university¡¯s name to be used in any form.

Professor Rudd said that the university will seek legal advice and has contacted the show¡¯s producer to request a retraction, according to.

The Chinese network involved, Hunan TV, responded in a : "The University of Nottingham is a world-class research-led university with academic excellence¡­We deeply apologise for the misleading dialogue from the characters.

¡°We will delete the misleading dialogue, the university¡¯s name and logo as soon as possible in order to not [cause more] misunderstanding. From now on, we will be more careful when creating TV dramas and will try to create more excellent works.¡±

rachael.pells@timeshighereducation.com