Page 25 - ELG2205 May Issue 480

FEATURES

for Chinese enrolment. All 10 have large particularly attracted by their campus locations The take-away
International Foundation Year Programmes, and their excellent work-placement schemes. The single best idea we came across, however,
which are designed to be a bridge between the Or take Swansea, which ranks top in was from a British student at an unnamed
home country’s schooling and a British UK medicine (followed by Oxford and then university which trained local undergraduates
university education: three run by Kaplan, two Dundee in the Complete University Guide). in the basics of ELF-style pronunciation
by Study Group, one by INTO and three that Out of its 24,000 students, 700 are Chinese – teaching and set up one-to-one conversation
run their own programmes. enough to form a community, but not so many classes, designed to increase confidence and
that they can avoid integrating. This Welsh break down cultural barriers.
Mixing it up university also has one subject on offer which It may also make them feel safer. A feeling
There are Russell Group universities with makes integration much easier: Mandarin. of insecurity, especially when they venture off
relatively low numbers of mainland Chinese: Foreign-language degrees are becoming campus, is another reason mainland Chinese
Queen Mary’s, London has around 6%, rare in the UK, but the universities that offer form protective bubbles. Although the UK is
Queen’s University Belfast 5% and Exeter, a Mandarin, such as Portsmouth, De Montfort not a dangerous country – it has among the
firm favourite with the English upper classes, and UCLan, are in a good position to create lowest murder rates in the Western world –
below 5%. But agents and students looking direct link-ups between students who need to racial harassment is not unknown and attacks
for places where integration is easier need to improve their Chinese and those who want to on Chinese students certainly rose during Covid,
throw their net more widely. practice their English. Student websites wax just as they did in all the main education travel
The Chinese are very keen on university lyrical about those which have ‘Sino English destinations, including Australia and Canada.
rankings, but they tend to focus too much corners’ – areas on campus where the two However, it’s dangerous to jump to the
on the overall rankings and forget to check groups can meet up for conversation exchanges conclusion that an attack on a Chinese student
how well a university does in the subject – and praise unis which have ABACUS (the is always a sign of racism. In 2021 there were
they are aiming to study. Take business and Association of British And Chinese Students), a series of attacks on Chinese students in
management, perhaps the top choice for many as well as societies purely for Chinese. Sheffield. Nine women were hit on the head
students and one in which the University Campuses with a Confucius Institute, such from behind and several were badly injured.
of Bath, where Chinese make up just 5% of as Southhampton and Oxford Brookes, also The story went viral in mainland China and the
the student body, outranks UCL on the QS create opportunities for language exchange. Chinese Consul General urged the university
international ranking by subject. Or sport True, these institutes can be politically to take special measures to protect students.
science, where Loughborough, which has just controversial, but they can also open doors. In September 2021, a former student of
4% Chinese, ranks top in the world, while Bath At Edge Hill, for example, the Institute is open Sheffield University, Shan He, was charged
comes in third. Chinese agents may never have not just to their own students, but to local with the attacks. She was described as Asian
heard of these universities, but they consistently schoolteachers and their pupils, creating a link and no further information was given, but Shan
rank in the top 10 for British students who are with the wider community. is quite a common Han Chinese surname.
EHU TESOL 18.11.2021 93mmx135mm.qxp_Layout 1 19/11/2021 12:00 Page 1

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