Bis research paper number 128 The wider benefits of international higher education in the uk

Case study: I100 
After degrees in China, interviewee 100 studied for his PhD in economics in Cambridge, 
funded by a Cambridge Overseas Scholarship. He considered this to be his dream 
opportunity, as the state of economics education in China in the 1990s was very limited 
and the British PhD would set him way apart for any career in economics. His family had 
no prior experience of UK HE and neither he nor they could fund the PhD themselves. 
He was in Cambridge for 4 years and active in student life, leading his College Student 
Union and a student society, and undertaking an internship in the City. He also met his 
(Chinese) wife during this time who was a fellow student in Cambridge, now an academic 
in China.
After gaining his PhD, I100 went to the USA to work at the World Bank and then the IMF, 
before returning to China. He believes the Cambridge PhD directly enabled him to get 
those jobs (and at the IMF there was a group of ex-Cambridge economists). He 
commented that he found those with US Masters to be experts, but that his UK 
experience gave him a deeper ability and confidence to learn or research anything he 
needed to.
Now in a director-level role in China’s national bank, he works with the Bank of England 
and other international banks. This takes him to the UK professionally and to host UK 
visitors; he spoke of his “emotional bond” with people in the UK, and other UK HE 
alumni, that underpins relationships with them.
I100
thinks his international experience fostered in the UK helps his international work, 
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The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK 
Case study: I100 
and that intercultural relationships will be increasingly important as China’s place in the 
world changes. He believes his HE experience has impacted on his life in many ways 
and expects the benefits to be lifelong, and feels some obligation to Cambridge as a 
result. 
He keeps contact with alumni and his former supervisor socially and has other UK HE 
contacts in his social and business networks. He has helped to run the Beijing alumni 
group for his College and is clearly a strong ambassador for both Cambridge and UK HE 
generally.