Collaborative chemistry degrees

Universities have forged links with international institutions for many years. But recently some have started collaborative degrees, where students are taught both in their home country and also by subject specialists at a partner university.

Since 2011, the University of Sheffield and the University of Reading have delivered BSc (3+1) programmes to students in China, where students study chemistry for three years before travelling to the UK to complete their final year alongside UK undergraduates. The Chinese students are awarded two degrees – one from the Chinese and one from the UK institution.

The Sheffield programme was established with Nanjing Tech University (NJTech) with an initial intake of 29 students, increasing to around 60 students each year. Reading is in partnership with the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST) with an annual intake of around 40 students.

Philippa Cranwell, Julie Hyde and Elizabeth Page discuss the exisiting collaborative programmes. Explaining consider how the programmes work and what collaborative courses are available. They also explore language and cultural barriers to see how these affect the courses, and speak with two of the first cohort graduates from Sheffield and Reading.