British Council celebrates our online innovation to support student mobility

The work of a team of academics to design and deliver mobility programmes in China has been celebrated by the British Council.

In 2019, the University of Northampton was awarded a grant through the British Council’s Outward Mobility Internationalisation (OMI) Partnership Fund, to design and deliver mobility programmes in China, whilst also supporting Chinese partner universities to develop their wider internationalisation strategies.

Dr Shaowei He, Director of the China and Emerging Economies Centre, Dr Holger Siemons, Senior Lecturer in International Business, Dr. Sarah Jones, Subject Leader International Strategy and Business, and Dr Qian Zhang, Senior Lecturer in English as a Second Language, have been working with Yunnan Technology and Business University (YTBU) to develop an innovative model in the form of an online personal development package, which supports UK students to have successful cross-cultural experiences in China.

Dr Shaowei He, Director of the China and Emerging Economies Centre, which facilitated the project, said: “I am pleased that the British Council have recognised the value of the work we have been focused on to support student mobility opportunities. The pandemic developed the way the project has been operating, but with that challenge, came the fantastic opportunity to further enhance the virtual elements of the project,  creating personal connections for students in the two countries during the pandemic, and giving us the opportunity to develop the online learning package, so it has the potential to serve as part of pre-departure preparation for all students from other programme areas undertaking outward mobility activities with China,”

Read the full British Council feature here.