| Summary: | The purpose of this research was to enhance our understanding of the experiences of visiting Chinese students throughout the duration of their two-year postgraduate studies in creative programmes in a UK university. The specific areas examined were: one, the students’ perceptions of, and perspectives on, their academic and social experiences; and two, identifying how such experiences changed or developed as the students progressed through the two-years of their studies. The research involved a two-year longitudinal study of Chinese students who arrived in September 2009 at a well-known Art College in London. These students were enrolled on art and design postgraduate courses that placed a premium upon the ability to use their imagination to generate new ideas and then develop such ideas in an innovative manner. The study examined the possibility that as such courses do not base themselves on established bodies of knowledge or transmissive pedagogies, that it could possibly challenge the students’ prevailing epistemological concepts and pedagogical assumptions. The method of enquiry was via a qualitative methodology within an interpretative approach, utilising data obtained by audio-recorded, semi-structured interviews, following British Educational Research Association guidelines. Three sets of interviews were undertaken with each student: near the beginning, at the middle and at the end of their two-year courses, thereby fulfilling the longitudinal basis of this study. The approach to analysis was characterised by thematic coding with a focus on understanding the ‘themes of concern’ from the narrative accounts gathered from the interview data. Originally it had been anticipated that challenges arising from the nature of the programmes, specifically the focus on creativity and criticality, would be the main difficulty the students would encounter. However it ultimately emerged that their lack of colloquial English, pedagogical issues and socio-cultural difficulties would be their major problems. However, whilst these three main challenges were identified by all of the students there was significant variation in their perceived impact on individual students over the two year duration of the programme.
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