The University of Exeter is developing new research and teaching links with a number of leading Chinese universities. With more than 500 students studying at Exeter, China is the University’s single biggest overseas market.

Applications from Chinese students are up by more than 260% for courses beginning in September this year. The University has students from more than 100 countries so Chinese students are part of an increasingly internationally diverse student population.

A delegation to China led by Exeter’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Steve Smith visited universities in Shanghai and Beijing, including top ranked institutions Fudan University (Shanghai) and Tsinghua University (Beijing). Reunions were also held with over 200 Exeter alumni living in China.

Professor Neil Armstrong, Exeter’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of internationalisation, said: “We had a fantastic welcome from colleagues in Chinese universities: there is a real desire to work more closely with the UK. We came away hugely impressed by the scale of investment in universities in Shanghai and Beijing. It underlines how important it is for UK universities like Exeter to think globally and demonstrates why the investment we plan in our own campuses is vitally important if we are to compete on the world stage.”

The desired outcome of the overhaul is to increase international student figures and raise the profiles of institutions in the county. The scheme is part of a larger initiative to improve the entire education system in the country.

A report in The Australian stated that the overhaul has included millions of dollars worth of investment into research; and a planned changed from the British three-year undergraduate course model to the four-year US model in 2012. An aggressive recruitment scheme for new faculty has also been high on the agenda for the universities.

“We want to recruit aggressively right away,” says Way Kuo, President of the City University of Hong Kong, one of Hong Kong’s eight public universities. “We’d like to recruit a lot of people from America.” The University of Hong Kong has also hired around 100 professors in the past years, with plans for 100 more. Whilst the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong also have plans to recruit at least 100 new faculty members in the following years.

If you are currently working or considering working at a Hong Kong higher education institution, we would love to hear you thoughts on this topic. E-mail us at: editorial@i-studentadvisor.com