Shepherding a group of visiting Chinese parents and children through Birmingham just last week, a recent quotation from the Beijing newspaper Global Times came to mind. England, the paper said, was 'just an old European country apt for travel and study'. That day, the penetrating drizzle probably meant we scored pretty low on tourism. Happily, things were rather more cheerful on the education front as the group took in visits to a range of educational establishments hereabouts.
In fact, the Global Times' disparaging remarks aside, teaching and tourism are not a bad platform for a real and lasting relationship with China. And notwithstanding what appear to be the entirely contrary ambitions of the Home Office in this matter, there are some 90,000 Chinese students in higher education alone here at the present. The very best English education still carries real prestige in China - and brought my visitors to the City
However nothing remains the same for ever and there are developments in China which might have some impact on this.
The way in which young people and their parents in China access educational the wider world may be changing. Traditionally, the route has been through agents who act as intermediaries. Educational institutions here appoint agents who actively promote the institutions, recruit students and support prospective students and their parents through the application and assessment process.
Though the process has always seemed to work quite well the upshot is that parents and children are inevitably buying sight unseen. And they are buying a product which is not only very expensive but also one which is a genuine family investment - the development of social care in China is still at a level where even quite wealthy parent anticipate that they will be looking to children to support them in their retirement. An overseas education - and the advantages it is hoped it will bring - are an investment in everyone's future for the family.
A rather more sophisticated approach is fast developing among Chinese buyers of which the visit last week was an example. They are taking time to come here to visit the schools and colleges they might want to consider for their children. They are walking the walk and talking the talk with staff and current students to get a real and personal feel as to what is on offer. And the feedback I got from the visitors suggested that that educational glow they got was more than enough to offset the Midlands winter chill.
Given the scale of our education export trade with China however, something of a tremor of anxiety passed through that market when the news emerged from China late last year that a review of the Chinese university entrance process was being implemented and that this would include the examination of the place of English within the system.
Here, of course, the concern is that this shift may take some of the gilt off the unique attraction of an English education and the ultimate scaling down of those 90,000 university students - plus those in secondary schools.
But just as with other aspects of our export business, the core task is one of looking hard at creating greater value for those students who do wish to come -and doing that on the basis of a concept the Chinese value greatly 'win-win'.
And as the conventional wisdom would have it, its always useful to assess your product or service from the clients perspective. In China itself students are seeking rather more from their university experience than just education. One of the most valued benefits of university education there is the sense of mutual obligation that grows between classmates. It is something which is deeper and more profound than mere networking or the ties of an Alumni Society as we might understand it here. Maybe we need to thinking much more creatively how we can build something akin to that for Chinese (and, of course, all other international) students who come here. The aim might be to build much permanent connections with those young people who do come here and capture the benefits that can bring. It demands a fuller recognition that education doesn't just take place in the lecture hall or seminar room. Taking action to realise this may require a different sort of collaboration between the academic and wider world to provide these more telling relationships but if it can be achieved but the benefits could be profound and long lasting.
And in a world where the competition to build such connection is becoming both more important and more tough the new opportunities it presents might be just another thing to take the chill out an English winter for those intrepid visiting parents diligently steering their children's futures
