This is a really useful and comprehensive guide for Chinese students about the essential academic skills needed for successful study in higher education in the UK. It covers all skill areas as well as general information for Chinese students new to the UK academic environment.′ - Julie Watson, Principal Teaching Fellow in e-Learning and Head of eLanguages, University of Southampton Leaving China to study in the UK for the first time can be a daunting experience. You will be entering a new country and education system with its own culture, customs and values, some of which will be totally different from those back home. You will need to acquaint yourself with these differences to achieve your goals while studying in the UK and make the most of your stay. You may be finding it difficult to find this information, you may even be feeling anxious about the move or struggling to fit into your new environment. Help is at hand! This easy-to-read book is designed to be your companion throughout your university studies in the UK, providing practical information and skills and strategies for success. This guide: Introduces you to many life skills needed to support your studies in the UK, such as food, socialising and local amenities Contains information regarding UK assessment, lectures, seminars, campus life and support available from faculty Covers language and comprehension skills to help you communicate in your work and in the classroom with peers Explains the main differences between Eastern and Western thinking and culture Includes research skills and strategies for dissertations, essays and exams. Other useful features: Xiangping has included study tips in Chinese to help you fully understand each chapter Key words in each chapter are also provided in Chinese, alongside a test on the topic Hear from other Chinese students about their own experiences studying in the UK. This essential guide will help you to flourish in your UK studies and enjoy yourself along the way! The Student Success series are essential guides for students of all levels. From how to think critically and write great essays to planning your dream career, the Student Success series helps you study smarter and get the best from your time at university. Visit the SAGE Study Skills hub for tips and resources for study success!

Winner, 2021 Best Book Award, Comparative and International Education Society Higher Education Special Interest Group Winner, 2021 Best Book Award, Comparative and International Education Society Study Abroad and International Studies Special Interest Group Honorable Mention, 2021 Pierre Bourdieu Award for the Best Book in Sociology of Education, Section on the Sociology of Education, American Sociological Association Over the past decade, a wave of Chinese international undergraduate students—mostly self-funded—has swept across American higher education. From 2005 to 2015, undergraduate enrollment from China rose from under 10,000 to over 135,000. This privileged yet diverse group of young people from a changing China must navigate the complications and confusions of their formative years while bridging the two most powerful countries in the world. How do these students come to study in the United States? What does this experience mean to them? What does American higher education need to know and do in order to continue attracting these students and to provide sufficient support for them? In Ambitious and Anxious, the sociologist Yingyi Ma offers a multifaceted analysis of this new wave of Chinese students based on research in both Chinese high schools and American higher-education institutions. Ma argues that these students’ experiences embody the duality of ambition and anxiety that arises from transformative social changes in China. These students and their families have the ambition to navigate two very different educational systems and societies. Yet the intricacy and pressure of these systems generate a great deal of anxiety, from applying to colleges before arriving, to studying and socializing on campus, and to looking ahead upon graduation. Ambitious and Anxious also considers policy implications for American colleges and universities, including recruitment, student experiences, faculty support, and career services.

Chinese students in the UK have been increasing in number for many years, yet competition from other Western educators and increasing investment in China’s own education system has led to concern that UK institutions may soon see a decline in their market share. Dr. Reynolds addresses this issue in Chinese Students in UK Further Education by attempting to understand students’ experiences from their perspective. Beginning with an exploration of why these students choose to come and study in the UK, and why they are coming at younger ages, the book goes on to discuss topics such as risk, technology and diversity, in order to understand which factors have the greatest influence on where they choose to study and whether they choose to remain at an institution. Drawing on data from two different education institutions, providers of GCSE A-level programmes for students aged 16–18 years, Dr. Reynolds attempts to understand what these students experience during their studies, how they manage new social relationships, and whether, upon course completion, they achieved the results they desired at the outset. Moreover, the book aims to ascertain whether the students feel, in hindsight, that the decision to risk investing in UK further education was right and what they might communicate about UK study to contacts in China and elsewhere. The book examines what further education institutions do well and where they might improve, to help develop Chinese students’ educational experiences. As such, it will be essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduates in the fields of further education, sociology of education, international and intercultural education and mobility studies.

Presents both the historical development and the current state of higher education in China. Emphasizes the ongoing education reform, the government's education policies, and the development in higher education since the 1990s.

Despite radical and fundamental reform of the Chinese higher education system, very little is known about this outside China. The past decade has seen radical reform of all levels of China’s education system as it attempts to meet changing economic and social needs and aspirations: this has included transformation of university curricula, pedagogy and evaluation measures, rapidly increasing joint research and degree programmes between Chinese universities and universities abroad, and very large numbers of Chinese students studying at universities outside China. This book describes the historical, cultural, intellectual and contemporary background and contexts of the reform and internationalisation of higher education in China. It discusses these changes, outlines the challenges posed by the changes for university administrators, faculty, researchers, students and those working with Chinese academics and students in China and abroad, and assesses the impact, and evaluates the success, of the changes. Most importantly, it considers how this mobility of people and ideas across educational systems and cultures can contribute to new ways of working and understanding between Western and Chinese academic cultures. The book is a companion to Education Reform in China, which focuses on reform at the early childhood, primary and secondary levels.

Until recently government policy in the UK has encouraged an expansion of Higher Education to increase participation and with an express aim of creating a more educated workforce. This expansion has led to competition between Higher Education institutions, with students increasingly positioned as consumers and institutions working to improve the extent to which they meet ‘consumer demands’. Especially given the latest government funding cuts, the most prevalent outlook in Higher Education today is one of business, forcing institutions to reassess the way they are managed and promoted to ensure maximum efficiency, sales and ‘profits’. Students view the opportunity to gain a degree as a right, and a service which they have paid for, demanding a greater choice and a return on their investment. Changes in higher education have been rapid, and there has been little critical research into the implications. This volume brings together internationally comparative academic perspectives, critical accounts and empirical research to explore fully the issues and experiences of education as a commodity, examining: the international and financial context of marketisation the new purposes of universities the implications of university branding and promotion league tables and student surveys vs. quality of education the higher education market and distance learning students as ‘active consumers’ in the co-creation of value changing student experiences, demands and focus. With contributions from many of the leading names involved in Higher Education including Ron Barnett, Frank Furedi, Lewis Elton, Roger Brown and also Laurie Taylor in his journalistic guise as an academic at the University of Poppleton, this book will be essential reading for many.

Graduate and professional TESOL students will welcome this research methods textbook for undertaking qualitative, naturalistic and action research projects. Uniquely, the book offers a three-level structured progression, suited both to novice and intermediate students with a focus on development as classroom teachers of English, and to advanced students engaged in academic research work in applied linguistics. Every chapter is structured to develop the important skills for undertaking QI in a rigorous and serious way, at whatever level is appropriate for the reader's purpose. The book is both scholarly in approach and written in an engagingly direct and clear style.