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Study abroad? Do your homework first

By Nicholas Olczak (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-10-21 17:47
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These Chinese students might also hope to gain skill in relating to people from a different country. But many struggle to connect with local people. British society can be difficult for an outsider to break into and some of these students live with working class families who are especially hard to get on with. My students told me that they hardly spoke to local people at all and after lessons finished they'd go straight home to chat online with friends in China.

Some of the Chinese university students I observed seemed similarly isolated. This is despite the fact that though the opportunity to study alongside foreigners is one of the main reasons they have come to the UK. For local students, University life has become increasingly about going to bars and drinking beer and I sense Chinese students find it hard to share in this culture.

This might make it seem like Chinese students get very little out of their time in the UK, but there are many others who do really benefit from studying here. They pick up new many skills and experiences. They manage to make friends with local people, quickly developing more fluency in English, together with interpersonal skills vital in this globalized world.

For these people, studying in the UK has much to offer. Their time here is a chance to work or socialize with westerners, having conversations which challenge them to think in new ways and compare different ideas. They can immerse themselves in the country's incredibly rich literature or history and gain an unparalleled understanding of western culture. Many universities in the UK are not just academically strong but also engage in very vibrant discourse and the creative exchange of ideas.

The difference between the Chinese students who can seize these benefits and the others is that they have a very clear idea of why they've come to England and what they want to get from the experience. Rather than a vague notion it will boost their career or make up for the fact that they didn't get into the best Universities in China, they see clear skills they can gain in the UK. This gives them the focus and the motivation to use opportunities presented to them in a way other students do not. It gives them the drive to overcome the difficulties they might face being abroad.

So if a Chinese student asks me whether they would get what they want out of studying in the UK, I would tell them that they will but only as long as they know clearly what it is they want from their stay. And it is crucially important that education establishments admitting these students, and the parents sending them here, help to check that they know this too.

Nicholas Olczak is a freelance journalist currently based in London. He previously lived in Hong Kong for several years and travelled extensively around China. He worked as an English teacher in a UK language school for several years."

 

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