What is the attitude of UK students towards international students?

I am wondering if international students usually 'have it worse' than others at UK universities when it comes to social experience - is it common that UK students reject internationals or that there are divisions and internationals form their own friend circles? Does it annoy UK students that people have different accents etc. or are they rather understanding?

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

I wanna know this as well.

Reply 2

stereotypeasian

as a UK student I don't really know but to be honest I would befriend international students at uni (if I hopefully get in this year) :smile:

Reply 3

BlueIndigoViolet

adds to the mix and diversity at uni so generally very welcome in comparison to reception in other countries, the UK is very welcoming and comfortable especially in large cities, though often like to mingle with their own groups which is fair enough, but generally seen as closed off with people from some countries, and the perception of increasing international students to boost college incomes with their insane levels of fees being a cash cow to sustain themselves.

Generally very positive imo :smile:

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 4

Anonymous #2

UK uni students are likely born after 1996 so they are waaaaaaay less racist than say their parents/grandparents. You dont really get many prejudice people under 30 these days, as a black guy myself I actually have faith that in the UK racism will actually die out eventually, in the US however it would never happen.

Reply 5

Joleee

no definitely not. being an international student is exciting(!); you're on a grand adventure, experiencing a completely different country/culture. pretty sure about 20 percent of my undergrad was international, so it's not like if you are an international student you are anywhere near alone or special.

no, UK students do not reject international students but i won't lie to you: in my experience international students do tend to stick together, i think just cause they have 'that' in common. also a lot of kids in my class came from the same country, so they tended to befriend each other. i'm pretty sure i was friends with one fellow Canadian specifically because we could reminisce.

i don't know about the accents but i think it's just something we all deal with and pretend politely to understand when sometimes we don't. you'll find not all british accents easy to understand all the time either. doesn't stop you from being friends.

Reply 6

MWills99

From my experience, nobody really cares whether you are an international student or a home student. However, international students tend to hang out together which makes it more difficult to get to know them.

Reply 7

Pharyngotympanic

Nobody really cares if someone is an international student or not. The ones I've met and been friends with have all got on well with the rest of the cohort. That being said, certain sects of the international student bunch are less likely to integrate and more likely to stick together than others.

Reply 8

Em.-.

I’d be interested in talking to international students as it’s always cool to meet people who have grown up in different places. I know the university of St. Andrews for example, has 50% international students, one of the highest (or the highest) in the U.K.

I suppose I’d assume if they weren’t EU that they were pretty rich paying 20-30 grand per year. But that wouldn’t make me not talk to them. I’m happy to talk with anyone who talks to me if they’re a nice person.

It seems if anything it’s the other way round where international students tend to stick with people from their own country, rather than British people refusing to talk to them.