Chinese students view the UK¡¯s university system as ¡°easy in and easy out¡± but resent ¡°assembly line¡± teaching that makes them feel like ¡°tinned tomatoes¡±, according to new research.

Young people from China make up the largest proportion of international students in the UK, yet researchers said their perspective is ¡°notably absent¡± from the debate about ¡°consumerism and marketisation¡±, where students are frequently depicted as revenue sources.

A third of the 51 Chinese postgraduate students interviewed for??published in the journal Higher Education?acknowledged they were contributing to this marketisation and it had brought benefits to them in the form of greater access to prestigious universities.

The students summarised the defining characteristics of the UK¡¯s market-driven postgraduate education as ¡°easy in and easy out¡± ¨C with two-thirds viewing UK admissions standards as relatively low compared?with institutions in the US or China, and one-third saying that assessments are easy and passing requirements are not as stringent.

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But, along with the ¡°outrageous¡± international tuition fees compared?with domestic students, participants highlighted numerous additional costs including language tests, agent fees, visa expenses, and services like proofreading and extra dissertation tutoring.

Some of the participants, who studied at 24 British universities across 14 subject areas, expressed concerns that courses with a predominant Chinese student cohort were ¡°majors for profit¡±.

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While some said marketisation was a necessary response to reduced funding, the majority associated it with declining teaching standards and a feeling of being treated as ¡°cash cows¡± without adequate rights or protections.

They complained that lectures and coursework were delivered with minimal effort, limited teacher engagement, and little individual support ¨C treating students as ¡°products¡± and acting as ¡°assembly line workers¡±.

While they said the academic performance of their classmates was partly to blame, one student says in the study: ¡°It is like [academics] are repeating the process of making tins of tomatoes. You teach with minimum effort with this group of students and repeat it next year.¡±

Author Summer Sheng, an early-career researcher and educational consultancy professional, said that what matters most to these students is whether educators engage with them as learners,?investing in their intellectual growth and treating them with respect.

¡°This distinction is strongly shaped by Chinese cultural and educational traditions, particularly Confucian ideas about the role of teachers,¡± she told?̽»¨ÊÓƵ.

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A feeling that they were only wanted for their money affects the students¡¯ confidence and well-being in the classroom, the study further finds.

¡°Before I came here, I thought it [the university] really wanted to teach, and I thought about how I deserved to come to this university, and now I have figured out that I am not worthy, but my pounds are worthy, my pounds are real,¡± says one student.

Sheng, who completed her PhD at the University of York last year, said the study was one of the first to put Chinese students¡¯ voices at the forefront, revealing the damaging impact of being seen mainly as sources of income.

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¡°Listening to these concerns matters. It not only calls for more research but also makes clear the need for collective action to push for meaningful change.¡±

Amid an anti-internationalisation trend among?the country¡¯s?main rivals,?recent figures showed record interest among Chinese students in taking up UK courses.

But co-author Sylvie Lomer, lecturer in policy and practice at the University of Manchester, said the UK is also now competing for these students with branch campuses, education hubs and increasingly attractive higher education at home.

¡°Given the increasingly hostile migration rhetoric of the UK government, I think UK universities have a tough job to do to counterbalance that perception in the minds of prospective students, and make campuses at least seem welcoming¡­especially given the price tag of studying abroad.¡±

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She urged universities to counteract the concerns raised in the paper by putting more money into supporting smaller class sizes,?teacher training for working with multicultural and multilingual cohorts, and support services. But she said the political and economic climate around universities will make this very difficult.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com