 A 2007 report, edited by Anna Fazackerley, cautioned British universities that they must acquire a more thorough understanding of Chinese higher education policy if they were to succeed in building successful strategic alliances over the long-term.The campus is situated in 111 Renai Road, Suzhou Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District in Suzhou Industrial Park, 12 km east of the historic center of Suzhou, and 90 km west of Shanghai.With 2,500 years of rich history and culture, Suzhou has sustained an average annual economic growth-rate of more than 15 per cent since the beginning of China's "reform and opening up" period, its local GDP being ranked as the fourth largest in China, just after Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.