13th Annual Student Camps in China 2019

IMG_9966UCL  IOE Confucius Institute/Hanban 2019 China Study Camps

13th July – 28th July 2019

For the last twelve years, UCL IOE Confucius Institute for Schools has worked with the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) to organise study visits to China for secondary school students in England. To date over 3,700 British students and teachers from 130 individual schools across the country have benefited from this excellent opportunity to learn Chinese language and about Chinese culture.

Managed by IOE Confucius Institute, this annual study visit is generously funded by Hanban for all the in-China costs, including language and cultural lessons, food and accommodation, travel and transportation as well as some tourism.

Who is this for?
Secondary schools in England with students aged between 14-18  who are studying Chinese or who are interested in learning the language and culture are eligible to apply.

Please join our Chinese Teaching e-forum to receive regular updates and be notified when the application process opens.

Please note that the Summer Camp programme is often over-subscribed, so priority will be given to Confucius Classroom schools and schools who have never participated in the trip before.

Programme in China
The study visit focuses on teaching Mandarin Chinese to the British students whilst also offering exciting cultural lessons and activities including;

  • around 20 hours of Chinese learning
  • traditional Chinese cultural activities
  • visits to local historical and cultural places of interest
  • activities with local Chinese students
  • home visits will be organised with host schools where possible

How much will it cost?
Teachers and students will be responsible for their UK domestic travel cost, visa costs*, travel insurance and pocket money. Visit costs in China are generously funded by Hanban. The IOE CI will purchase the international air travel, in order to ensure participants can travel and be met in China in groups. The airfare and IOE CI administration fee for the 2019 Summer Camps will be around £1,000 per person TBC (price applies to both teachers and students).

*Chinese Visas
Please note that Chinese visa costs have increased and are now in the region of £150 per person. From the end of 2018, each person applying for a Chinese visa will be required to travel to the Chinese visa centre to submit fingerprints. This includes teachers and all students. Please visit the Chinese Embassy website for more information

Teacher Places
The current student/teacher ratio will be 10:1, which means that a maximum of one teacher per 10 students will be funded by Hanban. There is an option to pay an additional teacher’s expenses to allow more than one member of staff to go on the trip, and/or to have more/less than 10 students on the trip.

Please read our FAQs for further important information
FAQs Document

How to apply.

The Camps application is now closed for 2019.

To read about how much students and teachers enjoyed the camps over the years, please click here to access the school blogs.

For further information please email chinesenetworks@ucl.ac.uk .