The scene is familiar enough: a student-recruitment fair featuring stalls and banners from 15 universities — all hoping to tempt the prospective undergraduates milling around. But this is not the usual overseas operation by British or US universities. The first such event was recently staged in the UK by Chinese institutions, a sign of their new priorities as they look to boost their reputations by expanding international recruitment.
A group of the institutions’ presidents and vice-presidents attended the Study in China Exhibition and Student Forum. The event was organised by the Chinese ministry of education and the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, and was held at the Institute of Education, University of London on October 28. It marked the culmination of a week-long visit which included a summit with British vice chancellors hosted by the UK’s education secretary, Michael Gove.
Speaking to Times Higher Education at the exhibition, Cui Xiliang, president of the Beijing Language and Culture University, said his institution is seeking “opportunities to enhance links with universities in the UK”. The chance to study Mandarin at the university is “very attractive for UK students”, he said, adding that his institution attracts about 10,000 international students a year, the “largest body of international students in China”.
Also in attendance was Sun Bing, deputy dean of the International Cultural Exchange School at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, who said that China had traditionally attracted most of its overseas students from South Korea. “It is equally important to attract students from every country,” she said, speaking through an interpreter.
But the Chinese envoys acknowledged that there are obstacles in the way of their efforts to recruit British students, a group often seen as more reluctant to study abroad than their peers in other countries. “We did some research and the biggest (hurdle) is the language barrier for students coming from Europe,” says Dr. Sun. “Chinese is very difficult for them.”
With this in mind, overseas students at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics are now being given the opportunity to study their courses in English. Indeed, in the final two years of their degrees, domestic students are also taught English, except for courses in Chinese history.
Joanna Burke, China director for the British Council, which supported the event, studied Mandarin at Beijing Language and Culture varsity during her University of Leeds degree programme. While the UK needs its students to understand China, given the nation’s “importance in the world”, she says Chinese universities “want to increase their world reputation”. “Internationalisation is a key element of that. You’re not going to build a world-class university if you don’t attract international talent,” she adds.
Backing up the British Council’s aim to encourage greater outward mobility for UK students in a globalised society, Burke says her own time as a student in China “was the best year of my life and one that changed my life”.
(Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)