For many the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union was unexpected. Though how Brexit will actually work and what will happen is unknown at this stage, one obvious result has been the collapse of the pound sterling.
The British pound hit a 30-year low against the U.S. dollar, and the value of the pound against the Chinese yuan also dropped by almost 10 percent to a historic low on June 24. Currently the exchange rate of the pound to the yuan is 1: 8.9 - on June 23 it was 1: 9.71.
The dramatic depreciation of the pound has caused a stir among Chinese in China and in the UK. While some are unhappy about the result and have lost financially, others have seen the Brexit vote as a positive move and have applauded the depreciation of the pound.
Like Qu Xinyi, a 22-year-old graduate from University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, who is about to take a master's course in Journalism at Cardiff University in Britain in September.
Followed the news
Qu said she hadn't expected Britain to leave the EU. "I kept following the news on the referendum, and most mainstream media in Britain and in China indicated that most would vote to remain," she said.
Though the result was a surprise to her, it has been advantageous. Qu told the Global Times that her tuition and accommodation fees had dropped by almost 10 percent with the exchange rate.
"My tuition fees are about ￡15,000 and my accommodation fees for the year are about ￡5,500 which would have been worth 198,850 yuan ($29,892.73) before Brexit," Qu said. "But now I only need to pay about 180,400 yuan - around 20,000 yuan less."
Her attitude was echoed by 22-year-old Duan Xiaoyun who is going to pursue her postgraduate studies in Finance and Investment at University of Leeds in September.
Duan said her year-long master's course was quite expensive - her tuition fees alone were about ￡20,000 and she also needed to find about ￡6,360 for accommodation. Because of the dramatic depreciation of the pound last weekend, she now could save up to ￡2,500.
"I am happy that I didn't change my yuan into pounds before the referendum," she said.
Qu said many of the Chinese students going to study in the UK were concerned about the exchange rate.
"I joined a WeChat group of Chinese students going to study in the UK. While British media were updating the voting results, my peers in the WeChat group were updating the exchange rates. Many of them were cheering as they watched the pound drop."
No lifestyle change
However she did admit that the decrease in the cost of tuition and accommodation didn't really matter a great deal to her and she would not be changing her lifestyle when she moved to the UK.
"The depreciation of the pound could also result in inflation in the UK, so the living expenses for overseas students might also increase," Qu said.
She is concerned that British universities might increase their fees for foreign students to counter the pound's depreciation. She said one of her friends has already been told in an e-mail by her UK university that her fees would be increased.
Wang Lu has been helping Chinese students enroll at British universities for four years. She is the UK department manager at Vision Overseas, one of the largest foreign education service providers in China. She agreed that students about to study in the UK this year could have an advantage with the depreciation of the pound.
"Studying in the UK usually costs a Chinese student 300,000 yuan, and now with the lower exchange rate, every student can save up to 30,000 yuan," Wang said.
Wang said some students had been so overwhelmed by new exchange rates that they had converted all of their study and accommodation fees into sterling after the referendum.
But she warned that these benefits for Chinese students wouldn't last long. "If Britain is certain to leave the EU and the value of the pound remains low, British universities will probably increase their fees," she said. "Prices in the UK could also rise gradually."
According to a 2015 report by the New Oriental Education and Technology Group, a major provider of private educational services in China, the UK is the second most popular destination for overseas education for Chinese students. Online statistics show that there are currently about 150,000 Chinese studying in the UK.
