To Tap into the World Better

From a word to a world

In the past eight years, my career has been focusing on “internationalisation”, which has become a buzzword inChinese universities in recent years. Notwithstanding my familiarity and linkswith overseas universities since I stumbled into the higher education sector,never had I imagined that I could study abroad. My destiny, however, changedlast year thanks to an English learning programme at the English Language Center (“ELC”) of the University of Liverpool (“UoL”). It has been a springboard to a new world which I had envisaged but never walked into and a life-changing opportunity of developing my capability of tackling problems in a global context to meet the future expectations.

Challenges

After the period of “honeymoon”when everything seemed perfect, I had to face up to challenges. The mostchallenging thing might be the Liverpool accent “Scouse”. Every time when I openedmy mouth with confidence to talk with local people, my confidence shattered andI doubted that the English I learned for years was “fake”. In addition, how tokeep the long distance relationship with my wife in China was not an easy thing.7 hours’ time difference between the UK and China made it difficult for us tocommunicate effectively, particularly when she suffered depression or encounteredtroubles.

Positive effects

Interestingly, when I wasthinking about clear and measurable benefits of studying in the UK, sevenexpressions occurred to me: progression, IT Services, variety, openness,tutorial, assistance and liaison, whose initial letters form an acronym–PIVOTAL, which indeed played a pivotal role in my learning in the UK and willhave positive impacts on my future career.

P for Progression

The Activate English programme whichI registered with divides students into groups by our English level, whichmeans that I had to advance to a higher level on the basis of my effort and performance.Motivated by progression, I worked diligently and moved up to the advancedlevel at the final stage. Nevertheless, I was not satisfied with my Englishproficiency. If I had a second chance to learn with the programme, I would havecapitalized on all the unparalleled opportunities to practice and polish myEnglish.

I for IT Services

I have been greatly impressed by the UoL’s easy and effective IT services,which are accessible to all students inclusively no matter how short or longthey stay at the UoL. For instance, every student will get a university emailonce he/she registers; the university International Student Office regularlysends emails to us noticing important issues; the ELC’s Social Welfare Team updatesnewsletters weekly for us to register with cultural trips and tours; teachingmaterials and assignments are uploaded to VITAL, an online platform; wherever Ilogged into my account on any one of the university computers, my settings andfiles remain same. All these IT support have been beyond my expectation. 

V for Variety

Variety is one of the distinctcharacteristics of the UoL, attracting diverse minds from all corners of theworld to study at the UoL. I made friends with students of a variety ofcultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds. Thanks to them, I have changed mystereotypes about those countries and their people. Moreover, a wide range of tripsand tours organized by the ELC have enabled me to have a better understandingabout rich British cultures and to enjoy British breathtaking views.

O for Openness 

Openness is an essential value the UoL builds on, and teachers are a strikingand impressive example. First and foremost, internationally focused teacherswith experiences of teaching English in many countries are open to work withstudents worldwide. Secondly, my teachers are from England, Scotland, NorthernIreland, Italy, Romania, Australia, and China, thus deliver teaching indifferent accents and styles. I have been inspired by such mindset of openness,helping me to walk out of comfort zone to challenge myself in different andeven exotic cultures. 

T for Tutorial

One-on-one tutorial takes places every one or two weeks which providesstudents individually interviews with their tutors. By giving feedback,students offer their suggestions to teaching, and discuss about the bestsolution to problems they have. It is the most awaited session for me, becauseeach time when I finished my tutorial, I became crystal clear what I can do to improve.Meanwhile, I felt that I played a part in improving the teaching after my voicewas heard by my tutors.

A for Assistance

Assistance is well demonstratedby the administrative staff. Drop-in sessions are available every day at the ELC’sreception, where one of the members the Social Welfare Team offer consultancyservices for all the non-academic matters. Besides, to facilitate the internationalsummer school, the ELC hired several support assistants specifically to workwith the project. In my experience, I inquired with the majority of theadministrative staff of the ELC, and their professionalism in dealing with anyissues, passion for their work, and care about students have all impressed medeeply.

L for Liaison

The Staff-Student LiaisonCommittee meeting is more than a connection between staff and students. Itplays an essential role in students’ engagement with governance of the ELC. Asa representative of my group I attended the committee meetings where the commonconcern of students were expressed and discussed. The liaison is a prime modelfor me to arrange and moderate such meetings in my future career.

Advices

There is no prescribed way tohave a successful international experience as a short-term language student.Personally speaking, to make good use of the limited time in the UK, at leastthree things may make a difference. First of all, relishing the moment is thetop priority. It is intangible but it really matters. The ELC places a hugeemphasis on interaction between teachers and students, and among students. If Icould study again, I would have grasped more chances to speak with andinterview with more people. Secondly, preparing questions prior to arrivalwould make the study-abroad experience more productive. I am keen on studying internationalisationstrategy of UK universities, so I prepared several questions which had puzzledme for long time before I came to the UK. Accidentally, I noticed that aninternational education summit would be held in Nottingham in this March, so Itravelled there and attended the event. To my amazement, I met the big names inthe sector of internationalisation of higher education and chatted with them. Unfortunately,I did not conduct my surveys or interviews on internationalisation. If I hadprepared more before I came to Britain, I would have written several academicarticles.

Conclusion

To some extent, it was tougher tostudy in a foreign country than I had thought. However, it turns out that I ameven tougher than I think. As a Chinese saying goes, “walking ten thousandmiles of roads is better than reading ten thousand scrolls of books”, studyingin the UK has reshaped my outlook onto the increasingly interdependent worldand helped me to tap into the world better.