The perceptions and challenges of East Asian students in UK higher education

Over the past two decades, the total enrolments in UK higher education (HE) from China, Hong Kong, Japan and other East Asian countries have risen from fewer than 100,000 in 2002/03 to a record high of more than 228,000 in 2021/22 (British Council, 2023).However, the experiences of East Asian students in the UK have not been plain sailing.For instance, during the Covid-19 pandemic, they faced increased verbal harassment from the public (Wong et al., 2022).This blog post discusses various perceptions of East Asian students within UK HE as well as the challenges arising from these perceptions.The perceptions of East Asian students appear paradoxical to the UK's promotion of multicultural education.As early as 1985, the Swann Report highlighted a shift from assimilation to multiculturalism, which supports ethnic minorities in maintaining their cultural identities and inclusion in society, thereby avoiding mainstream discrimination (Dupont et al., 2023).Nevertheless, Archer and Francis (2006) argued that East Asian students were often regarded -from a Western perspective -as 'pathologised' because they were seen as too passive, quiet and obsessed with educational achievements.These traits were