Businesses to benefit from the expertise of Chinese students

Sheffield University will pilot a programme run by UK Trade & Investments (UKTI), which will give businesses access to Chinese language, business and cultural knowledge, while giving Chinese students an opportunity to gain experience.

Lord Livingston, former chief executive of the BT group, now Minister for Trade and Investment launched the scheme yesterday.

He said: “China offers great opportunities for UK companies of all sizes, with growing demand for brand Britain.

“Chinese-speaking students can help UK businesses to overcome the linguistic and cultural barriers that could stand between them and the Chinese market.” Professor Paul White, deputy vice chancellor at Sheffield University, welcomed the Great Ambassadors China project.

“This scheme gives our Chinese speaking students the unique opportunity to acquire valuable employability skills with innovative companies who are looking to develop and expand their trade links with China,” he said.

Interns will help businesses establish themselves on web services such as Tmall, China’s equivalent to ebay, and Weibo, which is an equivalent to Twitter.

They will give advice on business etiquette and Chinese culture and help to develop Chinese brands for Yorkshire business- es.

If successful this scheme could be rolled out at other universities across the country.