China is the world’s largest exporter and one of the most controversial exports in recent memory is students.
It is estimated that more than 700,000 Chinese leave their country to study abroad each year.
And many of them end up in the UK and study at UK universities.
According to the Higher Education Statistics Authority, there are around 144,000 in the UK, a number that has increased by 50% in just five years.
As flows of Chinese students to the UK have increased in recent decades, their impact has come under increasing scrutiny.
The chairman of the House of Commons’ foreign affairs committee, Tom Tugendhat, argued last year that Britain’s universities’ increasing financial dependence on the tuition fees of Chinese students, some of whom hold hard-line nationalist views, could hurt those institutions’ academic freedom.
Another growing theme is that so-called crazy rich Asians – the sons and daughters of wealthy Chinese industrialists – are flooding campuses and crowding out native British students.
However, less attention has been paid to the views and attitudes of these Chinese students themselves.
Glasgow is a popular destination for Chinese overseas students, with more than 6,000 students on its campus, according to university authorities.
For a recent Radio 4 documentary, we spent time with some of these students, listening to their perspectives and stories.
And what we found debunked many of the stereotypes and raised concerns that went unheeded.
Despite the crazy-rich stereotype of Asians, we found many came from modest financial backgrounds.
“I was 24 years old and had no experience of living in another country,” says student Hua.
“I come from a small village in the countryside of Shandong Province.”
In fact, the majority had never left China before arriving and experienced culture shock upon arrival.
Glasgow’s initial appeal for many – alongside its solid academic reputation – was how the Victorian university buildings looked on the brochures, much like Hogwarts from the Harry Potter films
“I was amazed by the buildings in Glasgow because I had never seen them before,” says Yifei.
Some felt that they were not getting good value for money with the significant sums their families had saved and saved over many years to fund their education.
“I would say that Chinese students are not getting enough attention or services for their money,” Hua said.
Luna asks a question for the university.
“We sometimes call ourselves study machines,” she says.
“Do you really want to be a student mechanical engineer – or do you really care about the well-being of the students and want to help them achieve the best during their studies abroad?” asks Luna.
Some wanted to be more integrated into local life and felt that the university was not doing enough to make that possible, as they were too willing to accommodate them in large, all-Chinese apartment blocks — like the city’s West Village neighborhood — and not doing enough to improve their English language skills.
“I really want to make friends with local people, but I don’t know how to communicate with them – it makes me a little sad,” says Fiona.
Glasgow University told us: “In addition to language support, the university offers international students a variety of specialized services, from practical and academic advice and guidance to health and well-being support, from pre-departure through graduation and beyond.”
In terms of politics, despite fears that students are intolerant Communist Party mouthpieces who impose their views on others, we more often found a reluctance to engage in political discussions.
“Even though we have more access to different opinions about democracy and other political issues, we don’t talk about them as much because we get in trouble,” says a graduate student named Eugene.
“We can have some opinions in our own hearts, in our own minds, but we don’t talk about them.”
But he added that one of the attractions of a British university, at least for him, is that it allows for more individuality and self-expression than a Chinese higher education.
“You don’t have to be a product on an assembly line,” he says.
However, a student named Jo from Taiwan said she felt uncomfortable with the nationalist political stance of some Chinese students.
“I don’t like making friends with Chinese students because I usually get bullied. They always say ‘You’re Chinese’, but I’m not,” says Jo.
The point, however, is that there is no such thing as a typical overseas Chinese student experience – just like there is no such thing as a typical overseas Chinese.
Cora Xu, a former Chinese international student now teaching at Durham University, told us that the key problem is that these students tend to be viewed and treated as a homogeneous bloc in both public discourse and university administration .
“They’re treated as a faceless group that shares certain negative stereotypes,” she says.
“[But] They’re extremely heterogeneous, extremely diverse – they’re very, very alive.”
The Radio 4 documentary Chinese on Campus is available on BBC Sounds.
Add Comment