Two Chinese students, who are studying at British Universities, have been awarded prizes for being the best international students in their respectivehost countries.

Psychology student Yusi Liu wascrowned Welshinternational student of the year while Yu Huai Zhang, who studies management, was named Northern Ireland’s international student of the year. Both students join 12regional finalistsin next month’s final, where one will become the UK’s top international student.

Yusi and Yu Huai were among more than 2,000 students from 130 countries whoparticipatedin the International Students Awards – a competition run every year by the British Council to find international students who havecontributedto life in the UK.

Entrantsin the competition were asked to write a letter in English describing theiracademic successes,extra-curricular achievementsandcommunity involvement.

Yusi wrote about her volunteer work withautistic childrenand elderly people while Yu was the first Chinese national to become astudent officerin his university.

Both students told us how integrating with theiradopted communitieshad helped them improve their English skills. Yu Huai said : "Through socialising, voluntary job, myinternshipandstudent unionwork, I have learned a lot of vocabulary I didn’t learn in class."

Yusi agreed: "I joined a lot of volunteer work and got a part-time job which is related to my subject and so I helped a lot of people withmental health issues. A lot of what I learn working with people helps me get a better understanding in mylectures".

Studying in parts of the UK withstrong regional accentshas helped both of them gain a morerealistic approachto speaking English.

Yu Huai said: "As long as you can understand others and make yourself understood, vocabulary and good sentence structure is more important than accent."