Going global: UoN’s decade in China

Nottingham University is celebrating the ten year anniversary of its expansion into China.

UoN’s China campus was established in 2004 in Ningbo, a city home to over five million people.

The campus supports almost 6,000 students and is just a one hour flight from Shanghai.

Look familiar? Trent Building has been redesigned for both UoN’s China and Malaysia campuses

Seemingly obsessed with trumpeting itself as a “truly global university”, UoN prides itself on its international campuses in China and Malaysia.

Students willing to ditch Nottingham’s great weather, Ocean and the Baywatch theme tune can apply to spend up to a year on these campuses, where teaching is carried out in English.

Although a year in China or Malaysia isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, students can go for just a summer school or study at partner universities in countries such as Australia, Mexico and the USA.

The #UNNCmemories hashtag didn’t quite catch on

International and Chinese students must live in separate halls, despite the uni speaking of the benefits of diversity and discovering new cultures.

Halls for Chinese students have different rules to those for international students – Chinese students have to return to halls by 11pm.

Many international students complain about a lack of integration, hardly helped by Mandarin being the language of the 70+ societies.

Chinese students must be back in halls by 11pm

Vice Chancellor David Greenaway is also worried about a lack of diversity, with 93% of UNNC’s students being Chinese, and wants more UK students to head to Ningbo.

UoN’s expansion into China seemed to boil down to money, with Professor Greenaway saying:

“In one sense it comes naturally to business, they grow to a certain size, try to expand their markets and they look overseas. To some extent that happens with higher education.”

An impressive shot: Vice Chancellor David Greenaway with Chinese alumni

He added: “It adds to diversity by putting students from different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds together where they learn to listen and respect each other and co-exist without tension and conflict.”