A second opinion on studying in China

[anonymoose]

I have done undergraduate degrees in both the UK and China.

 

This is only my  opinion, but I would definitely say do your degree in the UK first. University recognition is one aspect. But the other is that you will likely learn much more about your subject studying in English than you would struggling through in Chinese. (Even if the course in China is ostensibly taught in English, you may find that in reality, the classes are all in Chinese anyway. At least this is what I have heard about the English language medicine course at Fudan University.)

 

From a western employer's point of view, they will want to know that you are competent in your field. Having done a degree in China, you will find it difficult to compete with people who have done the degree in their mother language. From a Chinese employer's point of view, not only will your competence unlikely be comparable with local students having studied the same course, but your Chinese language skills will not be able to compete either. And that is not taking into account the 2 years of work experience requirement. And that is not taking into account that most jobs are not open to foreigners anyway. And that is not taking into account that these are the current policies - what they will be like in 3-4 years time is unpredictable.

 

In addition, an important part of going to university is the "university experience" - all of the social activities, be it pub crawling with your classmates (not something that I ever engaged in), or organised extra curricular activities (which I participated in quite a lot). These will be easy to get involved in in the UK. There is much less of this in China, and you will always be an outsider in China. Foreign students cannot live in the same dormitories as Chinese students (thankfully, because conditions are pretty poor), which means that, even not taking the language and cultural barriers into account, you will never be able to form as close relationships with your classmates as they will have with each other, and they will do all kinds of things together without including you.

 

Of course, attending university in China is also an experience, but very very different from what you would get in the UK.

 

If, on your UK course, you are able to spend a year in Shanghai, that would be excellent. If you are not too constrained by finances, you could also spend holiday time in China. Also, there are many foreign students from China in British universities (though it remains to be seen if this is still the case next year given the Covid situation), so you could consider doing language exchanges (which is what I did at university in the UK). Time goes very quickly and you will have ample opportunity to get to China in the future. I would not advise sacrificing the benefits of going to university in the UK for the sake of getting to China a couple of years earlier. You would be much better off doing your undergrad here and going to China for a masters.

 

Finally, I'm not sure if you have been to China, but I would also do some research into what living and working in China is like currently. I used to live in China and loved every day, and if I had more time, I wouldn't hesitate to go back. Having said that, though, it is not as free and open and welcoming as it used to be. With the current tensions with the west and rising nationalism amongst the Chinese, things could change for the worse. This is also worth considering, because living in China may not be how you imagine.