Summary

Chinese study-abroad agent EIC Education recently published a report on studying in the United Kingdom. Although the report is mainly aimed at Chinese students and their parents, it also included a survey of students studying in the UK which may provide useful information for UK educational institutions.

Perhaps the most relevant part of this survey to UK HEIs is a question about the type of additional support students wish to receive. Over half of these students said they needed support related to employment, more than twice the number who said they wanted academic support and four times the number who choose "other". Within this category, the top request was for help arranging or suggesting internship opportunities, followed by interview training, career planning and support with writing a CV. Meanwhile, the most in-demand academic support services were essay guidance and language support, while the leading requests in the "other" category were visa support, accommodation arrangements and introductions to other Chinese students studying in the same city.

The survey also asked students about their main reason for choosing the UK. The most common, chosen by 27 per cent of students, was the shorter duration of UK HE courses compared with other countries. The quality of education in the UK was a close second, while cultural interest and safety accounted for 13 and 10 per cent of students respectively.

The students EIC sends to the UK are overwhelmingly at the master's degree level, with this level accounting for almost 87 per cent of the total. A further nine per cent intend to study an undergraduate degree course, with around half of these first taking a foundation course in the UK while the other half directly enter a bachelor's degree programme.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst, International Education Services

The strong demand for employment-related support suggests that there is room for UK universities to do more for their Chinese students in this area. Although the large majority of students will return to China after they finish their course, employers place a high value on overseas work experience which means that many students would like to receive internship experience before leaving the UK. The large number of students asking for interview support and career planning may point towards a lack of awareness of the services available at universities' careers centres or to these services being seen as less relevant for Chinese students.

The British Council is working to support the employability of Chinese graduates of UK universities. Our alumni activities over the coming year include Study UK career development workshops in the UK in November 2018 and alumni job fairs in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in March 2019, as well as professional networking events and our social media alumni platform.

Sources

Report summary (in Chinese): http://www.eic.org.cn/News/Detail/Sws3du28eEGGiUuoWlwvYg