Undergraduate Students Career Planning - Coursework Example

Investigation Of UK Business School’s Chinese Undergraduate Career Planning and Development of Date Abstract The following paper investigates the Chinese undergraduate students in UK business schools. It looks at their career development through out their time in the business schools. The paper will explore several article and journals that will help in explaining the investigation better. The paper will have four parts that will be Background information; Relevant Theories and Methods overview related to the topic, anticipated timeline and anticipated results Key words UK university business schools, Chinese undergraduate students Investigation of UK University Business School’s Chinese undergraduate students’ career planning and development Introduction There are increasing numbers of Chinese students in UK universities business schools. Many students prefer to study in foreign based universities so that they can diversify there opportunities at a better career. Many universities in the UK offer good opportunities for undergraduates studying business. They organise attachments in firms that offer good experience for the students that are studying in the universities. Some of these attachment turn into employment opportunities for the students. Most employment opportunities depend with the reputation of the university that one attended. Most of the universities in the UK that offer business studies have a good reputation, thus attracting more foreign students to join their programs. Evidence has shown that an increase in the number of full fee paying Chinese students in UK universities has made a notable contribution to the financial growth of much university. However, there are issues that have greatly influenced the quality of life and education for the international students. Life is not easy for most of the international students in these UK based universities (Turner, 2006). There are many factors that make many Chinese undergraduate students in UK business schools have a hard time coping with there studies. Most of these students are not very conversant with English. This makes it hard for them when researching or attending lectures. They have to coupe with extra English classes so that they are able to get information at the same speed as the other students. They will also have problems when it comes to adjusting to there new campus life because of the cultural difference. Literature review Most universities which enrollee Chinese undergraduate students in business school have shown less satisfactory levels when interacting with the community and fellow students during their time while studying. Most of the Chinese undergraduate students say that the ‘English people’ make it hard for us to settle down and adapt to the mode of teaching in the foreign universities. They say their colleagues are not willing to introduce and assist them with the new cultures that they encounter in the universities. The Chinese students say that the other students in the universities make jokes about their accent dressing styles and other cultural differences that the other students do not identify as culture. According to Dr. Gao (2012), the goals of a Chinese undergraduate student in business school changes before and after starting life in the university. This is because most of their expectations change as they find out the reality of enrolling in these schools is not what they though. To some of the students there goals intensify while in other students goals went down. Some of the students do not even complete their full course in the university. There are many factors that lead to changing of these goals among the students that enrolee in the universities. One of the most common issues that lead to the changing of the goals is the acceptance of the new culture of the university. This factor may act in the interest of developing a career or it can make it harder for the students to achieve his career goals. Some of the students do not know how to cope with the pressure that comes with university life. According to Bamford (2008), in a study that they did, most of the students interviewed felt that there was need for their lectures to be conversant with the Chinese political and economic practices, so that they would be able to know how to respond to issues that Chinese students have, without making them fell as if they do not belong. The students also noted that class contributions were also a difficult experience and the difficulty was further enhanced with the lecturers who had no patience with the students who found it difficult when it came to explaining topics that they did not understand. This makes the students shy away from answering and asking questions in class about the things that they do not understand. The student’s grades will deteriorate as the shyness continues. If the problem persists most of the students will change their career goals expecting less from their lectures. If the self-esteem of a student is lowered, the results might be catastrophic. Many foreign students will fail the course that they are working on due to peer pressure. Because they are from a foreign country, these students fell that they need to be at the same position with the most popular students in the university. For example 96 percent of all popular students in the university, fail there courses. Therefore, if a foreign student strives for acceptance in the popular group, they are bound to fail their course (see appendix figure 1). The amount of pressure that is placed on the Chinese undergraduate students, studying business courses in the UK is enormous. They are supposed to set an example to other students that are aspiring to join foreign universities from their country. There are given no room for mistakes or failures, because when they leave their countries, their parents send them to the foreign university with only two goals; to be a good example and to pass their courses with good grades. In addition, because they represent their home country, they are expected to uphold themselves with the at most principals. To other students this pressure works wonders for them. They are able to fulfill their dreams and succeed in their career development goals, but to others the pressure is too much for them to handle making them break down and fail in their course (see appendix figure 2). According to Huang (2008), history shows that despite the good knowledge of their home culture and traditions Chinese students will rely heavily on their educational traditions and still compete effectively with the other students in mathematics and science subjects. This fact proves that the teaching tradition of the Chinese will not affect the learning of the students’ performance. Some of the students will prevail even with the language barrier to pass even well than the students who are native English speakers. Methodology This methodology, which is going to be employed, involves accumulating the pertinent information through documents and many journals, which touch on the issue. Using this information, I will create a database that will help me analyse the topic better. In addition, I may combine my personal database together with charts in addition to representations on the data that has been collected. The research material will be investigating a lot on UK University Business School’s and Chinese undergraduate students and their career planning and development. The database collected will be results of the investigations that have been carried out. Some of the questions that will be used in order to obtain the correct answers will be; what factors affect Chinese undergraduate students in UK business schools, what are some of problems that the students encounter in the course of their education and any other relevant question that will shed more light on the investigation. The investigation will cite and research on journals and website that show statics on how Chinese in business schools develop their carriers. There are several aspects of the investigations that cannot be found in journals and websites. This kind of information will be gotten from interviews, notes and class reports that touch on the investigation. The investigation would not be complete without touching on how the UK universities help the Chinese students with carrier development. There are different programs that the universities offer on career development. In addition, we will look at how the business course that the Chinese students take helps them in developing their carrier. Anticipated timeline The project will take a week to be completed. The first step will be to research on the topic and come up with relevant questions on the topic. With all the questions collected, they will be placed on the questioner in a sequence that will be comfortable for the Chinese undergraduate students to answer. This part of the project will take about one and half day. After this step distributing of the questioners to the target group will be done. This step will take only a few hours. In the next two days, more research will be done to get relevant sources to be used for the project. After finding all the relevant sources to be used, the questioners will be collected back and all the information in them compiled into a database. This step will take one day. The next step will be reviewing or synthesizing the information and writing the concluding report. Possible challenges While collecting the information for the paper several challenges emerged and made collection of the information harder. The students that were interviewed had problems understanding the questions in the questionnaire. This was mainly because of the language barrier and less understanding of the English language. In addition, many of the students were not willing to comment or answer the questions freely for the fear of being marginalized. Some of the students did not answer the correctly and gave invalid opinions on the subject. For this project, many resources had to be reviewed so that credible sources can be found. It took a lot of time to come up with credible sources for the paper. Anticipated results After the investigation is complete, solution to the problems that were identified in the investigation will be given. Information on the carrier development of the Chinese students from day one to the day that they leave the university will be given (see appendix figure 3) improvements that were noted in the investigation will also be given. Some of the issues that are investigated and their anticipated results are. Classes could be practically difficult where your own personal teachers/professors selfishness or maybe individual self-importance has impact on a scholars skilled relationship when it comes to grading. The best way to avoid this is to teach the professors and other students about the culture of the Chinese students. Benefits of the project to partners Most of the Chinese pupils experience many problems in terms of integrating themselves into the new way of life. People will always make fun connected with political affiliation of the students because of strong political policies in the country. This project will help the partners in integrating in their new way of life. In addition, it will shed more light on the problems and solutions for the Chinese undergraduate students in UK business schools. For example, a great way to break stereotyping of the Chinese undergraduate students in business schools can be to inform other students within the political cultures in the Chinese. Lecturers need to be more outgoing for them to help the particular students in shape better inside class. This will reduce the chances of the students shying away from asking and answering questions in class. In addition, this will encourage the students to be more involved in class work so that they can improve their grades. References Bamford, J. (2008). Strategies for the Improvement of International Students’ Academic and Cultural Experiences of Studying In the UK. The Enhancing Series Case Studies: International Learning Experience. London Metropolitan University Gao, Y. (2012). Chinese Students’ Experience: A Case Study. University of Huddersfield. Huang, R. (2008). Critical Thinking: Discussion from Chinese Postgraduate International Students and Their Lecturers. The Enhancing Series Case Studies: International Learning Experience. Plymouth Business School. Turner, Y. (2006). Chinese Students in a UK Business School: Hearing the Student Voice in Reflective Teaching and Learning Practice. Higher Education Quarterly, 60 (1), Pp. 27-51. Appendix Figure 1 A representation of popularity and education statues for the four years Figure2 This figure represents the different levels of pressure given to the students as they continue to work. Figure 3 Representation of the development of the student Appendix 2 Questioner for Chinese under graduate students in business school Q1). What course you are undertaking in the business school? Q2). What is your level of understanding of the English Language? Tick where appropriate a) Written b) Spoken Q3). What are the challenges that you find in class work? Q4). Are your lectures helpful enough in your class work? Yes No Q5). Are your questions answered in class by lectures? Yes No Q6). What do you think about your lectures? Q7). Do you understand most of the lectures that you attend? Q8). How do your classmates receive you? Good Badly Fairly Q9). Do your classmates assist you in what you do not understand? Q10). Is your roommate of Chinese origin? If not, how does your roommate receive you? Q11). How is your social life like? Good Bad Moderate Q12). How many foreign friends do you have in the university? Q13). How do they treat you? Good Bad Moderate Q14). What extracurricular activities that you engage yourself in? Q15). Are you satisfied with your experience and life in the university? Read More