Western students at Chinese universities are ¡°very disappointed with the teaching quality¡± at their institutions, according to one of the first studies to examine the experience of these learners.

Shuiyun Liu, associate professor of education at Beijing Normal University, conducted in-depth interviews with students from Western countries enrolled in both Chinese- and English-language programmes, and said that the findings show that international students in China face as many challenges as Chinese students do in Western nations.

Teachers dominated the ¡°teaching-learning process¡±, the students said. Those interviewed said that ¡°asking questions is?not appreciated by most local teachers¡±, and they made clear that they were ¡°very disappointed with the teaching quality¡±, according to findings presented at a seminar at UCL¡¯s Centre for Global Higher Education on 6?September.

Students also reported that they made little effort in writing assignments, that grades were ¡°very generous¡± and that there was no formative assessment.

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The 30 interviews were conducted between March and August 2018 and included participants from the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and several countries in Europe.

According to , the country hosted a record 489,200 international students in 2017 ¨C an increase of more than 10?per cent from the previous year ¨C while the number of overseas students seeking a degree grew by 15?per cent to 241,500.

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Despite this rapid growth, the ¡°experience of Western students in China has not been fully discussed¡±, Dr Liu said.

Although some students gave positive reports of the teaching and learning, the findings show that ¡°Chinese universities need to prepare very well before they try to recruit more [international] students to China [by making] the education quality more attractive¡±, she said.

Dr Liu added that the Chinese government was encouraging universities to develop more English-medium programmes, but international students still found the classroom experience to be ¡°quite Chinese¡±.

¡°We try to follow the Western model, but it is hard to make it work very well in Chinese schools and universities,¡± she said.

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However, she said that the interviews found that the ¡°younger generation of teachers are open to dialogue in the classroom and teachers with international experience are¡­very good at the Western way of teaching¡±.

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com