Background
Chinese PhD students have a tough time
Chinese doctoral students in the Netherlands are having a tough time: the language barrier makes it hard for them to integrate and they must deal with differences in culture. On top of that, they feel as if the universities don’t always acknowledge them.
Thursday 29 March 2018
Tsinghua University in China has a partnership with Leiden University

This information emerges from a study conducted by Tung Tung Chan from the Leiden Centre for Science and Technology Studies; she has summed up those difficulties on ScienceGuide, an education website.

Chan interviewed ten Chinese PhD candidates at Dutch universities, eight of whom had wanted to do their PhDs in English-speaking countries. However, they came to the Netherlands because universities and supervisors here have a good reputation and the admission procedure is easier: it’s not long, it’s not complicated and there are no costs or tests involved.

The Chinese PhD candidates run up against a language barrier because they speak a local dialect as their native language with Mandarin as their second language, so learning English is difficult for them – let alone Dutch. Moreover, nine of the ten candidates had never travelled beyond China before, which meant that it took them twelve to eighteen months to adapt.

In addition, they do not feel as if they are acknowledged by the universities, so they do not feel at home here. Partly, that is due to the fact that they don’t have much information about the university: what is expected of them, who they can turn to for help besides their supervisors and what the criteria are for a pass mark.

The differences between Dutch culture and the Chinese are confusing, like the difference in hierarchy: in China, the supervisor is in charge, so Chinese PhD graduates find it very difficult to address their supervisors by their first names. Another example is saying sorry in advance for their mistakes, to be polite, while Dutch people tend to see apologising as a weakness.

According to Chan (who comes from Malaysia), universities should therefore focus on the social and emotional needs of Chinese PhD students and encourage integration with academic and social interaction. DT