EdUK Alumni Award
The Education UK Alumni Awards will recognise and honour the outstanding achievements made by alumni of a UK education.

About the Awards

The Education UK Alumni Awards honour the outstanding achievements made by business professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders across the globe who can demonstrate how their UK education has contributed to their subsequent success. Initially launched in China, India and the UK in 2015, a total of ten locations are taking part in this year’s awards.

This year’s awards ceremony for China will be held on 19 March at the Rosewood Hotel in Beijing, where the winners in each of the three prize categories will be announced. 

This year’s awards in China will mark the end of the first ever UK-China Education Policy Week, a week of education events in Beijing that will bring together representatives from both countries for discussions on excellence, employability and entrepreneurship; themes that resonate strongly with the Education UK Alumni Awards.  

Here are this year’s finalists: 

Professional Achievement Award

Liu Haisu

Liu Haisu (Harry) studied Business Studies at Staffordshire University. As the Assistant Principal of China’s first ‘free school’ (jointly funded by the district government and Tencent charity foundation), he leads a team that initiates education reform and makes fostering students’ global competency their primary mission. Liu Haisu believes his time spent studying in the UK made him a true global citizen. 

Ling Yifan 

Ling Yifan studied Visual Communication at Birmingham City University. Known by her pen name ‘Buddy’, she has had over 20 books published and her online manga story, ‘Guarding’, has been read by over 110 million people online. Ling Yifan is of the opinion that her time studying in the UK improved both her confidence and her skills as an artist.

Zhou Zhaofeng

Zhou Zhaofeng studied Competition Law at the University of Glasgow. He is a partner of the international law firm Bird & Bird and, as a pioneer in the field of Competition Law, has worked on several landmark cases for the European Chamber of Commerce. He observes that his time at the University of Glasgow provided him with the qualities and skills needed to practice competition law in China. 

Entrepreneurial Award

Xiao Dun 

Xiao Dun studied Engineering at the University of Cambridge. With over eight years of experience in education technology, he co-founded both a large online homework platform for primary and secondary students in China, and one of the earliest education app development companies. He believes that his UK education strengthened his leadership skills, developed his business judgement and exposed him to diverse views and perspectives. 

Jiang Lihan 

Jiang Lihan (Ada) studied International Law at the University of Sheffield. She is the founder and CEO of her own start-up named Miss Mama, a baby service transaction platform between stay-at-home and working mothers, as well as a novelist and columnist. She appreciates her studies in the UK for enabling her to launch her professional career, as well as for providing inspiration for her written works. 

Liao Xuehong 

Liao Xuehong (Evita) studied Business Administration at Durham University. She is the co-founder and Chief Business Officer of a leading offshore wealth management firm in China, through which she has contributed to the development of China’s financial system by providing global solutions. She observes that Durham University pushed her to achieve outstanding results in the field of entrepreneurship by providing her with the impetus, tools and network to succeed.

Social Impact Award

Zheng Jianwei 

Zheng Jianwei studied for an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at the University of Essex. He works as a private English tutor and was the first blind candidate in southwest China to take the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and to study abroad. His experience in the UK provided him with a unique study opportunity and he hopes that his story will help to close the gap for visually-impaired people in both China and beyond.

Luk Man Tat

Luk Man Tat (Steven) studied Business Administration at the University of Oxford. He currently works for one of the world’s top financial institutions and has recently launched the social initiative, Oxbridge Impact, to help underprivileged children in China. Steven says that his time studying in the UK helped him discover his passion in the field of social impact.

Zhu Weiqing

 Zhu Weiqing (Susan) studied Marketing at Durham University. As a low-carbon industry innovation practitioner, she founded the Shanghai Treasure Carbon New Energy Environment Protection Technology Co., Ltd, one of the largest carbon traders in China. She attributes her passion for ‘clean-tech’ to her experiences of living and studying in the UK and hopes to bring similar changes to China.      

Award recipients will be able to clearly demonstrate how studying at a UK higher education institution (in the UK or at an overseas branch campus) has contributed to the meaningful impact they have had in their communities, industries and countries.
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