IF students in Worcester think it's hard to get into university then spare a thought for the Chinese.

To be able to enter onto any undergraduate course, students have to take three exams. The catch is that two must be in English.

Fourteen delegates have put that behind them and are enjoying the experience of being at University College Worcester studying business management.

Ken Wang Kaizhi, and Davy Wei Wendi, are just two members of the delegation from the Guanxi province in south-west China.

They have been here since August, improving their English and strengthening ties between UCW and China. A delegation from Gansu province left in March and a group from Guangdong are due soon, depending on the Sars situation.

"Students in China spend a long time learning English because it is the world's language," said Ken, the delegation leader. When he is at home, Ken works in quality supervision and inspection, ensuring that goods manufactured in the province are safe for consumers.

"Only a few people here learn another language, but in China 99 per cent of students learn English.

"English isn't the UK's language or the language of the US - it's the international language. It's important for business and if you can't speak it, it's a big problem.

"To get into university in China you have to take three exams, two in English and one in maths."

All of the delegates had to improve their own language skills to be able to study for the MA, which they are expected to complete in August this year.

While UCW's domestic undergraduates went home at Easter, the Chinese group stayed in their campus accommodation sweating over their dissertations.

Every year dozens of students from across china travel to the abroad to take advantage of numerous courses.

While some prefer to head north to Sunderland, or west to the US, Davy and his group, chose the leafy environment of the St John's campus.

"I like the study environment," said Davy, aged 30, who works as media human resources manager for the Government's media, overseeing personnel for five newspapers, three television stations and two radio stations.

"It's a small university but it's quite good - it's very convenient for travel and study.

"The teachers and staff are very kind and give us a lot of help.

"In China everything at a university is controlled by the university. You wouldn't have an accommodation office.

"Here the teacher only does teaching, but in China you must take responsibility for students' daily lives and help them if they have a problem. Here you have other people such as welfare staff to do that.

"There's also a different study style. You would have 100 people in a class but here it is easier to communicate with the teacher."

Davy will go back to Nanning, the capital of the province, with not only his MA but also a better understanding of the English language.

"I've learnt English for quite a long time but only in school for examination," he said.

"English is very important for students but we still don't have the opportunity to practice it.

"We can read it quickly but not open our mouths to speak it. It's been very helpful to come here. You can talk to students and practice. Before I came here I almost couldn't open my mouth to speak English - now I can."

The delegations started arriving at UCW in 1999 ,following a visit by John Nixon, the head of the China office at the college.

He travelled around the country with six other university representatives promoting the city, the college and its courses.

"They are extremely hardworking," said Mr Nixon. "They work such long hours, which is part of the Chinese culture. They're also being sponsored by the government so they don't want to go back home without passing the course.

"We offer mostly business and IT courses, but in the future we hope to offer nursing, education and education management."

But it's not all been work, work, work, while the students have been in the city. There have been trips to London, France and Holland arranged for them and they have also joined in with Chinese New Year celebrations in Worcester.