My Exchange at The University of Nottingham at Ningbo
Deciding to move abroad and spend a semester in China was probably one of the best decisions I could have ever made. I had a blast on my semester exchange met so many incredible people, travelled so many different cities around China, as cliche as it sounds, it was an adventure of a lifetime! I found out about the exchange process through my degree, global studies and saw that studying overseas for a semester was an option and that it was highly recommended for my degree. I realised by applying through 360 I could get the most support during my application process which made it a lot easier to decide whether or not to go on my exchange.
I was definitely overwhelmed on my first day when I arrived in Ningbo and to the University of Nottingham, China campus because it was a completely new environment that I was thrown into, even though it was overwhelming at first, it forced me to go out of my comfort zone, explore places alone, and explore what the campus had to offer and eventually I began to love my new life on campus. University of Nottingham Ningbo campus is fairly easy to navigate around by yourself but there are plenty of lovely mentors who are more than willing to help you whenever you need, for things like a tour around the campus, getting your ID card and registration etc. Help was also there for anyone who still needed to get a China sim card, this made the settling into campus process a whole lot easier and it all went by smoothly for me. The Ningbo campus at Nottingham was not difficult to navigate around by yourself and I was able to get familiar with the surroundings of the campus within a week or two.
Lectures at Nottingham Ningbo campus was not too new, everything was taught in English, all powerpoint slides used by professors were also written in English. Seminars were also similar to the tutorials held at Auckland uni so it was not anything too new. What I loved about lectures at Nottingham Ningbo for one of my courses they would bring a guest lecturer and it was super interesting to hear their insights about certain topics discussed in class.
The cost of living in Ningbo is very affordable, I did little to no cooking during my time on exchange because access to food for students on campus was very convenient and cheap, there was 4 canteens, 3 were Chinese style food and there was a restaurant on campus called Arabica, which served authentic western food. It was definitely handy to have some basic Chinese knowledge when living in Ningbo for a semester because often at times the staff on campus and outside of campus spoke no English.
A vivid highlight is for sure getting to know people from all over the world, spending time with them off campus, and on campus. Night life in China was also amazing and super lively a lot of places like restaurants, shopping malls, markets, bars etc don’t close until late at night. Also, travelling around China with a group of friends that I’ve gotten so close with during the semester was as a 10/10 experience. While Ningbo is quite a small city, it is so easy to travel outside of the city to other places around China, being able to do weekend trips was 100% one of the highlights of my exchange. For example, Shanghai is only 2 hours away from Ningbo by train and my friends and I would go and do some exploring there, even if it was just for 2 days. We also travelled to Suzhou on the weekend by train as there are multiple trains running throughout the day and they are all incredibly reliable.
My accommodation in Ningbo was on campus and I lived in hauls, the international students residence, building 11. The room size in this building I thought was incredibly spacious, with your own private bathroom/shower, a single sized bed, a very long desk, and a wardrobe. Even though I was living alone, I never felt alone because living in hauls, you are always surrounded by people and your basically living with a bunch of international friends, you would still get your own space, and for me it couldn’t have gotten any better than that! I met people from all over the world during my exchange eg Europe and beyond.
Q&A
What were some of the highlights of the academic experience at your host university?
Some of the highlights of my academic experience at UNNC was being in a different learning environment with Chinese students, seeing how they go about group work and collaboration and also seeing how they take on lectures, eg if there was any class contribution during seminars and lectures, and seeing how other students get taught under a different teaching style to Auckland. Taking Mandarin at UNNC was an enriching experience, in my class it was all basically international students from all over the world, it made it an enjoyable and interactive learning experience that also promoted cultural exchange between us international students.
Would you recommend any particular activity/activities unique to your host country or university?
Definitely consider going on the multiple free field trips offered by UNNC offered by a programme “Discover Ningbo with Chinese”. It was super fun and anyone was able to partake in it even if you are not part of the module and just wished to go on the field trips, the best part was that it offered free field trips to see culturally significant sights, we visited Dongqian Lake, a popular tourist destination in Ningbo, we were also taught more about the history of Ningbo city.
What are your top 3 tips for future students attending your host university or going on exchange to your host country?
- Keep an open mind/be open to new experiences
- Know a little about the Chinese culture and language
- Become familiar with online payment often used in China, Alipay and WeChat Pay, very little people carry cash with them in China
How much did you budget for your exchange? Was this enough? Were there any lessons learned that would help future students budget for their own exchange?
During my semester exchange, accommodation was probably the most expensive thing on the agenda, besides travelling.
I paid about 8,000RMB for a single room, ($1,777).
My budget was set for 3,500RMB per month.
What are your most significant takeaways from your experience abroad?
Living in China alone for 6 months taught me so much about myself that I wouldn’t have known otherwise, I got to meet such great people from all over the world and it was such an international environment which was super refreshing to be around. There were such a diverse range of cultures around the campus and getting to share each others cultures and traditions, meeting people from all over the world eg from Europe, and different parts of Asia was definitely the most significant and best part of my exchange. Also, I became so much more confident in myself during my time abroad.