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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Chinese - advice on British universities

192 replies

Chineselookingwest · 02/04/2023 02:57

my Son would like to study at UK University. Many of his friends do but they only mix with fellow Chinese and international students and keep themselves to selves. This is not what my son wants - he wants to integrate properly with UK students. His English is fluent.

he does not want to go to a university where international students isolate. He has friends at Essex university and Guildford and Holloway London who do that. He will avoid those places. Where else should he avoid please.

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Teapleasemilknosugar · 03/04/2023 11:56

Shanghai is a massive city. None of our cities in the UK compare in size, population density or 人山人海, so whichever British university he chooses will be a completely different experience even in somewhere like London. Our tube isn't anyway near as efficient, large or maintained as the metro in Shanghai for one example! Deliveroo isn't as good as Sherpa's either.

Something else to think about though when choosing which university to attend/move to - if there is a large population of Asian or Chinese then there is more likely to be a decent Asian shop to buy the ingredients he needs for cooking, or authentic restaurants for Chinese food when he's inevitably feeling homesick for xiaolongbao etc. Most of the British take on Chinese food is Cantonese and isn't great, and supermarkets aren't as well stocked for Asian ingredients either.

Good luck to your son for finding a course and university that he likes!

poetryandwine · 03/04/2023 12:04

The Asian students at my uni are lonely during the Christmas holidays, particularly in Y1. The uni sometimes lays on events for them but it is still difficult. One advantage of having Asian friends, amongst others, is that they can band together and travel during this time. In later years, international students who make close British friends will sometimes do things with them over the Christmas holidays. But many British families are rather insular on Christmas Day itself.

Needmoresleep · 03/04/2023 12:47

Not really a rumour. I have several SE Asian friends who are sending their DC to the UK and who have servants. Indeed I was counselling one friend with a very sheltered daughter (2 servants and a driver) that her daughter should use the summer to gain some independence, perhaps by volunteering away from home.

DS has several Singaporean friends on Government Scholarships. His course was not offered by NUS. Quite a big cultural adjustment despite a seemingly westernised society.

Needmoresleep · 03/04/2023 12:49

That was a reply to intlstudent. Asia is a big place. Students, including Chinese students, are diverse.

Kucinghitam · 03/04/2023 13:37

@Needmoresleep There's definitely some truth in it, growing up as a nominally middle-class kid in the big city, almost everyone I knew had a live-in servant (houses/larger apartments are built with a maid's room). We didn't because we were dirt poor for most of my childhood.

Also it's not just people who grew up with servants. One summer, I think between degrees, I was home for the holidays. My dad said "Oh, my friend's eldest son is going to start uni in the UK, can I get you to chat to him about what it's like there?"

I felt any input was going to be unhelpful because he was going to Manchester or something, and I'd been in London/Cambridge. But anyway, I agreed to meet this young man.

During our conversation, this fellow told me that his parents wanted to know whether 14 pairs of new jeans would be sufficient for the term. "Why on earth would you need 14 pairs of jeans for your entire degree?" I gasped.

Dear reader, the answer was that his parents intended for him to travel the 6600 miles home every single holiday, with this suitcase full of the whole term's dirty laundry, so that his mum could wash it for him.

IceMagic · 03/04/2023 13:47

Parents at some unis set up Facebook groups for current and prospective parents of the uni. If you joined those you'd be able to ask current parents, including Chinese parents as plenty of international students, how their dc is finding it.

Madcats · 03/04/2023 14:01

I live in Bath, which has a lot of its Halls of Residence (University-owned and private) very close to my house so I notice the students come and go. Some of the blocks are set aside for overseas students and postgraduates (these tend to be the ones close to local residents). Yes there are quite a lot of Asian students but there are also Indian/Africans/Europeans in the same blocks.

The key thing would be for your son to get involved in extra-curricular activities (sport or music or hobbies or volunteering) or join a local church.

Here are the latest stats I can find about student mix:

Student Numbers

University of Bath student numbers on 1 December.

https://www.bath.ac.uk/publications/student-numbers

Xenia · 03/04/2023 18:33

We need a bit more information about what subject he wants to study and which universities would accept him. Obviously the best are places like Oxford and Cambridge but they are harder to win places at. Also the purpose - eg if he has plans for UK career then looking at LinkedIn profiles of people newly joining the company is worth doing to see which univerisities they attended.

It is hard to stop people only mixing with someone who is from their country so I suppose if you choose good universities but with not very many students from abroad that might be one way to help avoid that. Also he can join clubs, societies, do music or sport with people of all kinds and meet people that way.

boys3 · 03/04/2023 20:16

Chineselookingwest · 03/04/2023 02:01

thank you for all replies. We are from Shanghai. So son says wants v different experience in UK and not big busy city like home so not London, Birmingham or Manchester. Research so far for his degree he likes Bath, Warwick, Lancaster, Exeter and Nottingham. I am positive about his time in UK after responses here.

Someone said we should not book most expensive accommodation for son. We thought we will do as we can do it and only small percentage more when we paying so much fees. But if that is where all Chinese students book, we will not. Should son go to cheapest to mix best with UK?

@Chineselookingwest From your DCs list, plus for context Essex and Royal Holloway (which I think you mentioned he has friends at); UCL - University College London; and the overall UK universities picture.

  • the split between UK and international students for full-time undergraduates; full-time postgraduates; and then the overall student body full-time total; plus on each the percentage of total students from China and from Hong Kong.

The data can all be accessed at www.hesa.ac.uk the UK Higher Educations Statistics Agency. Table 28 has the detailed international breakdowns by provider; whilst the summary picture is https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/where-from - you'll need to scroll down a bit.

Good luck to your DC with his deliberations. I hope he will have a successful application in due course and enjoy his time in the UK.

Chinese - advice on British universities
Chinese - advice on British universities
Chinese - advice on British universities
ValuePartnership · 03/04/2023 20:22

Warwick has the largest number of Chinese students in the country.

boys3 · 03/04/2023 20:44

ValuePartnership · 03/04/2023 20:22

Warwick has the largest number of Chinese students in the country.

Not according to the HESA data. Not even close.

University College London 10,785
The University of Glasgow 9,085
The University of Manchester 9,065
The University of Edinburgh 6,855
King's College London 6,360
The University of Sheffield 6,340
University of the Arts, London 5,540
The University of Southampton 5,220
The University of Leeds 5,100
The University of Birmingham 4,805
The University of Bristol 4,350
The University of Warwick 4,320
Imperial 4,260

Takeittotheboss · 03/04/2023 21:00

Might I suggest somewhere off beat....Liverpool University.
Very interesting city, russel group uni, does the required course, all accomodation is self-catering. Choose university accomodation not private halls. Lots of sport and other social activities.
My DN is there now, British/Shanghai background. Wide variety of friends and interests. Not experienced any racism from other students or liverpudlians (as pp suggested above happens outside of London)

Chineselookingwest · 03/04/2023 21:47

Thank you every body for your suggestions. There is a lot to way up. My son is working hard to choose and will be looking at data too - thank you @boys3 for showing us. My son being economist likes charts!

@Takeittotheboss my son is big fan of Liverpool FC! He will be so happy at this suggestion

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Chineselookingwest · 03/04/2023 21:49

@doginatent thank you as well for the link. We are glad students feel the same

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intlstudent · 05/04/2023 02:14

@Needmoresleep I know this is off topic, but out of interest, let me reply your post. Apologies to OP for the essay. :)

Ok firstly, I think it would be remiss to ignore the fact that there have always been major issues around how helpers are treated here. It makes me angry too.

That said, please don't call them "servants" – Singaporeans tend to call them "helpers". The vast majority of cleaners and live-in housekeepers in London are Eastern European and generally work for longer hours for less pay. Some are very badly treated, but you still wouldn't call them a servant just to make a point. Helpers in Singapore are almost always English speaking and can understand you perfectly well; virtually every Singaporean now call them "helpers" precisely in the name of dignity, to reinforce the fact that it's a job and not an identity for them.

We had to pick a cause to volunteer for in school, and I actually spent the vast majority of my secondary and junior college years involved in domestic worker campaigning, but I'll spare you the paragraphs I initially wrote :) I truly used to come at it with a black-and-white war hammer, but many factors changed my views after living in the UK for a period.

Anyway, the main thing is that Singapore emerged from the global definition of 3rd world poverty 20-30 years ago, just as I was born. As the country has grown more middle-class (not the British definition meaning "upper class", but the literal definition) over the past 2-3 decades, so too has mainstream concern for the average worker, and then marginalised groups, the latter especially in the last decade. Workplace legislation is catching up, crucially both for Singaporeans themselves (we might even get a minimum wage soon!) and foreigners, though the 2 clearly aren't comparable at the moment (yet they were just decades ago).

I used to think all of these were propaganda-esque soundbites, but sometimes Occam's Razor does apply. I've seen it with my own eyes: the country following the trajectory of other developed countries (e.g. the UK historically) where a country undergoes a golden age (ironically through badly impoverishing their colonies like India). The average citizen first establishes economic stability for themselves, and then starts campaigning for marginalised groups in the country. When I returned to Singapore in the past half-decade, I was quite shocked at the widespread public enthusiasm for change, as opposed to how our earlier campaigning had fallen on death ears.

We were a British colony up until the 60s. Singapore has been repealing British laws lately, e.g. the anti-homosexual laws. Among other things, observers have commented that it's also shaking off the ingrained British mentality of "class" (in her later years as she encountered dementia, my grandmother would bow and make way for now bewildered white people, as she was taught to in her formative years!) / caste (as you will know, based on the class system in England, the Brits enthusiastically picked up on and popularised the initially obscure idea of caste as a ruling mechanism in India). Again, commentators have noted that throwing away the colonial "class" mentality is a crucial element in rethinking labour dynamics.

Finally, I would caution against thinking your friends are the norm. That would be a bit like me thinking English friends I met at uni with sprawling family estates represent the average Brit! In a country where even owning a car you drive yourself is rare, many people especially would be gobsmacked at the fact that someone has a driver – that in itself indicates obscene wealth. I would say while a helper at home might be common, 2 helpers and a driver is not at all. Many attending Oxbridge are very wealthy but just as many come from public housing (4/5ths of the population lives in public housing) as I did.

Chineselookingwest · 05/04/2023 02:40

I think my English is good - but not fluent like my son. But I do not understand last, very long post. I do not want to ignore good advice. can someone explain simply to me very kindly

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intlstudent · 05/04/2023 02:53

@Chineselookingwest sorry, as noted, my post was off topic for your thread - just ignore it :)

intlstudent · 05/04/2023 03:00

@Chineselookingwest 跑题了,不好意思 😅 话说回来,希望您儿子可以享受大学美好时光

newstart1234 · 05/04/2023 03:14

Take a look at Durham. Good luck to your son 🙂

Chineselookingwest · 05/04/2023 03:30

intlstudent · 05/04/2023 02:53

@Chineselookingwest sorry, as noted, my post was off topic for your thread - just ignore it :)

I experiment with emoji 😀😂

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Chineselookingwest · 05/04/2023 03:32

newstart1234 · 05/04/2023 03:14

Take a look at Durham. Good luck to your son 🙂

Thank you very much

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Needmoresleep · 05/04/2023 05:11

Intl student, I am not sure why you would assume the friends I referred to are Singaporean or why they would use the phrase “helper”. Neither is true. There are other countries in SE Asia which have not achieved the same growth trajectory as Singapore, who have a different history, and where there it can reasonably be assumed that if you can afford an overseas education for your child you can also afford domestic help.

This is an English board. Can you translate your post above.

ValuePartnership · 05/04/2023 10:59

It is very hard to offer helpful advice without knowing the subject your son wished to study, and at what level (BA, MA or PhD). That said, very large universities like London, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield will lead the absolute numbers table, but much smaller universities (like Warwick) have a much greater proportion, and that is what matters for the specific concern you have. In any case, making a strong positive choice is better than avoiding something unless there are only one to two to avoid - which is why the subject of study is important. However, all this said, I would recommend universities with strong cross-departmental programmes in a cosmopolitan area, to which end I suggest you son consider if any of the following meet his academic requirements: Sussex, Oxford Brookes (really outstanding in some areas), Reading, Bristol and Bath (really outstanding in some areas).

Oakbeam · 05/04/2023 11:35

This is an English language board.

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