Member Article

Walton Robinson offers support to international students

A Newcastle-based letting agent, Walton Robinson, has extended its portfolio to give greater support to international students moving to the city.

A steadily growing influx of international students, and Chinese students in particular, gave rise to the introduction of two multi-lingual letting consultants to Walton Robinson.

The UK Council for International Student Affairs has said 17% of the North East student population is made up of internationals, and Walton Robinson’s new recruitment hopes to address this market specifically.

Alice Lam, who speaks English, Mandarin and Cantonese, and Qi Wang, who speaks English and Mandarin, will dedicate their time to helping Chinese students settle into student life in and around Newcastle, and will use their own experiences of moving from Hong Kong and Beijing respectively to give support.

Partner at Walton Robinson, Jaimie Hocking commented: “It’s great to live in such a multicultural city and have so many international students attracted to studying here.

“By recruiting Alice and Qi we will be able to offer a bespoke service to our Chinese clientele, in their native tongue and by young people who have been in their shoes.”

Newly- appointed Alice Lam said: “It can be daunting to make such a big move from home at such a young age; there are many cultural differences that can make organising aspects of your life that bit more difficult.

“Issues like getting a UK mobile phone contract, installing internet access at home, and understanding how to pay bills here, are all very different to that in China.

“This is where Qi and I always try and offer an extra bit of advice to help new tenants feel more looked after.”

Walton Robinson hopes its new initiative to help international students will add a level of “cultural expertise” to its business, with aspirations to fill a growing demand with its specialist team.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .