Chinese students wowed by historic Leicester Castle during week's trip to business school

Dozens of students from a Chinese university have travelled to De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) to learn expert lessons in sports management.

A class from the Communication University of China – one of the country’s top-rated media education institutes – has spent a week visiting the Leicester Castle Business School.

In a packed week, the students - who study a mixture of media courses – were given talks by Leicester City experts and business academics from DMU to enhance their studies in sports management.

For student Liu Yang – as for many of her classmates – this visit was the first time she had been to the UK.

The 25-year-old journalism major said: “We have come to DMU because we want to learn more about sports management and Leicester is the city of sports.

“We all know about Leicester City and we know about Leicester Tigers and it is great to be here.

“I think the UK is very beautiful. London is amazing but Leicester feels much less crowded. It feels like you could have more leisure time here.”

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Over the course of the week, the students were given talks by Leicester City historian John Hutchinson, DMU sports history expert martin Polley, lectures on international sports business by DMU business lecturer Rob Bradshaw and guided tours around Leicester city centre.

Liu said the Leicester Castle Business School itself was a special environment.

She said: “Oh, the castle is beautiful. There is so much history in every room it feels like we are learning so much more.

“I want to make a documentary about the building; It’s is such an inspiring place to study.”

Professor Junqi Yan from the CUC, who led the trip, said he hoped the visit could be the first move towards the creating of a joint-programme between DMU and the CUC.

He said: “This trip is about the students being able to experience the very special learning environment at DMU.

“We would like to run a joint programme with DMU looking at sports communication, running over two years, one in China and one here in the UK.

“The castle is very unique; when you get inside you can simply feel the history and when we study, what we learn is rooted in the past and looking to the future, just like the Leicester Castle.”