Community in a Time of Crisis: Fostering Support for Displaced Students

As the crow flies, the distance from Coventry to Beijing is 5,054 miles, but for many Chinese students, isolated from their families and support networks in the UK, the actual distance is immaterial as they have no way of returning home until the COVID-19 crisis has eased. Out of 120,000 Chinese students studying in the UK’s HE sector (HESA, 2020), the majority remain here after the Chinese government’s decision to limit the number of flights into the country and the UK government’s directive on social distancing (Cabinet Office, 2020).