ABS looks east

A new Chinese version of Aberdeen Business School’s website aims to help parents in China with the difficult decision of allowing their children to study abroad, writes Wendy Jia

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Wendy Jia

IT IS an incredibly difficult decision for Chinese students and their families to pursue their study abroad. Looking back to May, 2003, I arrived in Aberdeen as an international student after applying to Aberdeen Business School at The Robert Gordon University through an educational agent in China.

The agent was the only source I could use to seek more information about Aberdeen Business School and Aberdeen itself. The only details they gave me were the university rankings, tuition fees and an ABS leaflet, normally shared by a couple of students. My parents were very worried about the quality of education ABS could offer me and the support which would be given during my time there.

I have now lived in Aberdeen for more than five years and I have met hundreds of Chinese students from different parts of China. “How did you hear about Aberdeen Business School and Aberdeen” is always the hot topic.

Knowledge of the school is now spreading through China thanks to the efforts of ABS staff and improvements in information technology.

In recent years, members of academic staff from the business school have been regularly attending education fairs to recruit students in China.

Prospective Chinese students have more opportunities to meet the course lecturers in person, which is a real advantage as talking face to face with lecturers is one of the most valuable resources for students. Meetings also help students to select the course which will best suit their individual career aspirations. Students can also obtain detailed and professional advice on scholarships, applications, finance and accommodation.

However, is there still such a wide range of information if students simply want to know about a particular course in the UK, but they have never heard of Aberdeen or RGU? Well, thanks to an excellent team of e-marketers and web designers within the business school, the answer is now “yes”.

If you type the name of the course – for example, MBA, UK – in the search box of a well known search engine such as Google or Yahoo, ABS’s website will appear. Course information, tuition fees, contact details, student services and admission procedures will be easy to find after students arrive at the main ABS homepage.

However, this is of no great advantage when it comes to the Chinese market as most Chinese parents – who are the main decision-makers when it comes to their children’s future education – still have trouble using English search engines. The majority of them can read only a little bit of English and their English skills are not good enough to get the full grasp of the courses and services ABS offers.

It is very daunting for Chinese parents to agree to their only child studying aboard, so they want to be as informed as possible on the university and the city it is in. Thankfully, this is no longer a problem for prospective Chinese students and their parents as a Chinese version of the Aberdeen Business School website has just been launched.

I am very proud to have been involved, alongside my colleagues, in designing, translating and inputting the Chinese version of the website, based on knowledge of Chinese students’ needs, interests and aspirations.

The site gives an overview of the school and of The Robert Gordon University in Chinese, along with information about the range and quality of courses offered to international students, supported by testimonials from Chinese students and graduates.

Through reading testimonials, Chinese parents of potential students can be reassured and trust in both the quality of education offered and the high standards of facilities, location and support services that are given to students at the university. The process of allowing their children to pursue their studies abroad then becomes a lot easier.

In order to become as convenient as possible for Chinese parents and prospective students, Aberdeen Business School will continue to expand the site, both in updating currency exchange rates for fees and in the range of new areas, with information about its facilities, university accommodation, student services, graduate employment figures and other aspects that would be of potential interest to them.

I really hope that the hard work and effort by my colleagues, Allan Scott and Annabella Padilla-Lamb, and myself, will bring faster professional and useful advice and information to all Chinese students. I hope that, in turn, Chinese students will have a valuable and enjoyable study experience in ABS and Aberdeen.

In doing this, I anticipate that Chinese graduates from ABS will be differentiated from other graduates and widen their career paths in the future, both in the Aberdeen area and throughout the UK and the world.