Student Profiles
International nursing students-China
On a sunny December day the students from the BSc (Hons) Nursing for International Students course took some time out in the Green Olive Cafe to talk about life and study at UCLan.
The seven students are the first to have come from the Second Military Medical University (SMMU) in Shanghai to spend a year at UCLan as part of collaboration between the two institutions. The course is the first of its kind to offer such a broad spectrum of international nursing disciplines and more students are expected in the future.
The Nursing students enjoy the Green Olive Cafe with UCLan visitor Simon Meng, the Director of Overseas Student Office at SMMU
The student nurses explained that there is a shortage of nurses in China and this course will help the situation. They will return to China to work and they are confident that having studied at BSc level in the UK they will be attractive to employers. They are confident not only about finding jobs in nursing but about the opportunities that they may have to specialise in different nursing fields.
Tina (Tao) Yi, 21, from Xian, shared her impressions of UCLan: "It is a big challenge to study abroad. I would recommend it to others as it is a good life experience. It is very different here and we have to be independent and self-reliant. There is very helpful student support here but nobody is going to tell us how to do everything so we have to research not only our study but also about how to live in England. We really like the library here and go online to find out about lots of things we need, such as what's going on in Preston and where to find essentials as well as course work.
Facilities and tutors
"The facilities and tutors that we have in the Health Faculty at UCLan are really good and it is convenient for study. I like living in Preston. We went to London recently and I thought Preston was much better for study. It is lovely and peaceful here and is good for living and getting down to your course work. The course is practical and we will be visiting local hospitals, although we are not able to do work experience. We do study with English students in our nursing research module and that is useful for study and making friends."
Even though some of the students had to travel 1,700km to SMMU from their home town none of the students had been to the UK before and felt it had been a culture shock when they first arrived.
Crystal (Minjun) Liu explains: "It was scary at first and it took time to settle in but as we share a house we have learned how to live in the UK together and we all like to cook, watch movies, go shopping and listen to the radio - we like BBC Radio 1. We cooked a meal for our course leader Mike Hayden which was fun and we were taken out by members of the Health Faculty for a Chinese dinner. We love shopping in Manchester. People are very friendly and helpful at UCLan and we feel more settled now. We video our families and boyfriends from the video kiosk which is free at the University."
They will return to China in July after a year's study. Whilst they are here they are making the most of studying abroad and learning about the UK. Shelley (Hua) Zhang feels: "The Sun newspaper is great to learn about modern British culture and improve your English." Her friend Annie (Yiting) Wang exclaimed: "I don't read The Sun". One thing they do all agree on is they would like more beautiful sunny days like today so that they can get out and play basketball, their favourite game.
