Bringing UK University Life to Chinese Students – Freshers Festival to Launch in China this January

Freshers Festival Group is set to run their first overseas event this January – Freshers Festival China – to help Chinese students learn more about life while studying in the UK (@FreshersFest).

China sends more students to the UK than any other country, with 150,000 Chinese students currently studying at UK universities. After the impact of Brexit and the pandemic, this number looks set to increase even further in the coming years (CCTV, 2021).

However, the information available to Chinese students about studying in the UK has long been lacking. Most organisations do not actively have a presence on Chinese social media channels and websites, and this means students are often not well informed about where and what to study, as well as lacking knowledge of key student issues such as picking the right accommodation, selecting the perfect bank, travel, networking with other students, discounts, and more. Freshers Festival Group, in partnership with Expede International recently conducted a study of over 1300 Chinese students wanting to study in the UK and found that these students are actively looking for a deeper understanding of student accommodation (70%), flights (51%), and visa information (46%), among many other aspects of UK student life.

Freshers Festival China seeks to solve this problem. The virtual event will be livestreamed on Weibo, the largest social platform in China with over 850 million users, giving millions more students the chance to find out about UK student life. The event has been designed to celebrate the best of British education, and will not only feature universities and educational institutions, but also brands, service providers, and organisations involved in all parts of university life. Students will therefore be able to find information on study, visa applications, travel arrangements, accommodation, and everything in between.

The event, being delivered in both English and Mandarin, is not only a fantastic opportunity for students, but it will allow universities, brands, and service providers the opportunity to promote their products and services to millions of students, without the need for travel, translators, or tiresome phone calls. It will be the simplest, most direct way to communicate with a Chinese student audience.

The event will be broadcast through a collaboration between China-Britain Business Council (CBBC), the leading organisation to promote trade between Britain and China, and Freshers Festival Group who have delivered some of the largest student events in the UK for over 15 years.

After universities and organisations saw success with their virtual open days and events during the pandemic, the next logical step is to take these events to different countries, and run them in different languages, to reach as many people as possible. Freshers Festival China will do exactly this, and hopefully give students as much information as possible about UK university life, to help them make a more informed higher education choice.