Going global: how three doctoral researchers captured the experiences of Chinese postgraduates at the University of Sheffield

Chinese postgraduates are our largest international community and we want to find out more about their experiences of studying and living in the UK. Doctoral researchers Calum Webb, Sini Klasto and Xi Li won a research contract put out by the Students’ Union to explore Chinese postgraduate experiences at Sheffield. To coincide with the publication of their joint research report, we caught up with the team about their findings.
What were your own routes into research?
Calum: I studied both my undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the Department of Sociological Studies at the University and by the time we started this research, was in the fourth year of my PhD.
Sini: Like Calum, I’ve also just finished my PhD at the University. I did my undergraduate degree at the School of East Asian Studies (SEAS), MA at Sociological Studies, and was in the third year of my PhD at SEAS when the project started.
Xi: In 2017, I came to The University of Sheffield to do a PhD study at the School of East Asian Studies. I was a third-year PhD student when we started the research.
How did you get involved with the project?
Sini: Xi and I have talked about how the number of Chinese students at the University is rising. There seems to be a lot of cultural miscommunication that’s not addressed, as there’s a lack of awareness of the miscommunication occurring in the first place. When I saw that SU was looking into understanding the Chinese postgraduate taught (PGT) student experience, my first thought was that myself and Xi needed to be involved.
Can you tell us about the project’s aims?
Calum: We were looking to do something that was a little different from a usual small research project. Although we stuck to some traditional methods — survey and focus groups — we wanted to focus on how students expectations compared to their actual experiences. We wanted really rich qualitative data, using photographs and arts and crafts to get people talking about their life in Sheffield. Lastly, we were keen to focus on a whole range of experiences rather than just looking at academic experiences: what was the social side of life like for Chinese students? What about student health and access to services?
Sini: It was also important to provide Chinese students a space to express their experiences, challenges and satisfactions in regard to the University using a platform other than student feedback forms. I believe that given the current climate and the number of Chinese students, it is very important that there are sufficient actions taken to accommodate their needs without making them a target group for certain services.
What did you find out?
Calum: Overall, Chinese students reflected very positively on their experience at Sheffield, particularly relating to their academic study and future prospects. The Students’ Union greatly exceeded the expectations Chinese PGT (postgraduate taught) students had, with many talking about the SU’s events, services, and activities helped them balance their personal, social, and academic lives.
Chinese students expected to meet and make far more friends from outside of China during their studies than they were able to. Some participants felt it was down to high workloads of their course and the added difficulty of adjusting to life in a new country, which limited time to make new friends. There was often more perceived pressure on Chinese students to ‘integrate’, than there was on home students to be welcoming and value the contributions of their Chinese classmates.
Many of our participants reported difficulties in their everyday lives with feelings of loneliness or sometimes more serious mental health concerns.
Did any findings surprise you?
Xi: I was shocked that some Chinese PGT students experienced serious mental health issues triggered by their daily life in the UK (including pressures from their life back home in China), as opposed to academic experiences. The good news is that students are able to get support from SU and the Uni.
Sini: I was actually surprised how positively Chinese PGT students reported their experience. Obviously there are improvements to be made, nothing is perfect, but I was impressed how well SU and the University are doing overall!
Calum: I found it very interesting that Chinese PGT students felt like the university had a range of staff and students with diverse backgrounds but that this wasn’t necessarily reflected in their academic curriculum. One student said in a focus group that although many of their courses talked about things with a global perspective, it felt like the entire continent of Asia was missing from the discussion.
What was your experience of collaborative research like?
Sini: I think our collaboration exposed all of us to a working environment where a project would have been impossible without a specific contribution and skill from all of us. It was truly a team effort.
Xi: It was a good teamwork experience and a valuable chance to do and learn more about social science research. Working with people who are from different academic background benefits helped to expand the research methods and my own research skills.
Calum: PhD research in the social sciences can often have the downside of being a largely solo venture, so the project was a good opportunity for us to experience doing research as a small team.
What is your ambition for this report?
Xi: As a Chinese student in the UK, accessing help during my undergraduate and postgraduate studies took a lot of effort. The process made me feel isolated. Our report has shown the main issues that most Chinese PGTs have. It will help departments to understand their Chinese students better. I hope this report is just a start, not the end. More international students should get involved in doing other surveys in the future.
Sini: I hope every department has someone who has time to read it and time to think which recommendations might be helpful for them.
Calum: Making students aware of the role of the SU and its services prior to arrival, or providing information related to access to mental health services and reporting crimes would address some of the more immediate needs.

