{Interesting event}Quarantined between cultures: Supporting and recruiting Chinese students in the context of COVID-19

Thursday March 18, 2021

13:00-14:00 GMT

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for Universities in the UK when it comes to supporting international students, as well as for recruiting new students going forward. Chinese students comprise the UK’s largest proportion of international students and are important to HEI’s financial sustainability.

This webinar will report on the findings of a British Academy Funded Project* to study the experiences of Chinese students in UK universities during the pandemic. The project adopted a participatory research model in which students themselves took on the role of participant researchers and worked together to formulate recommendations for HEIs on how to better support Chinese students and how to maintain the UK’s place as a desirable study destination for students from China.

The webinar will focus on:

The webinar will consist of short presentations from project researchers and students, followed by a discussion with participants. The target audience are representatives from HEIs, who are tasked with or interested in supporting and recruiting international students.

Welcoming Remarks: Ms Julie Allen, Director of Policy and Services, UK Council for International Student Affairs

Prof Rodney Jones, Professor of Sociolinguistics and Head of the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics, University of Reading

Prof Zhu Hua, International Lead for the School of Education and Director of the Mosaic Group for Research on Multilingualism, University of Birmingham

Dr Sylvia Jaworska, Associate Professor of Language and Professional Communication, University of Reading

Dr Wang Yi, Post-doctoral Fellow in Applied Linguistics,  UCL Institute of Education, UCL

Zhao Fengzhi, PhD student in Applied Linguistics, Birkbeck, University of London

Cecilia Duan, MSc student in International Health Policy, London School of Economics

Liu Kaihua, PhD student in Geography, Lancaster University

Ni Weihan, BSc student in Sports Management, Coventry University

The event will be free and hosted on Zoom. The joining in instructions will be sent two days before the event.

For additional information and queries, please email Dr Wang Yi at yi_wang.16@ucl.ac.uk

*  Funding for this project was made possible by a grant from the British Academy: Quarantined between cultures: Overcoming communication challenges and building resilience among Chinese students residing in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic (COV19/201479)