What are the typical backgrounds of your international students?
The majority of the international students placed by HFS London come from a university background in their home country. HFS London works primarily with students who are over 18 years old, so your guest will usually be a young adult. Although the average age of our guests is between 18-25 years old, we also get requests from more mature students, or professionals studying a business language course.
As we work with numerous educational institutions, we place students from all over the world. There is not one nationality that we work with more than another. You may find that certain places of study will have students from particular parts of the world. This will likely be due to their business relationships with particular study abroad agencies from these particular parts of the world.
Homestay, by its nature, tends to be short term. Students who intend to stay on in the UK often choose Homestay to find their feet in London. When they are more confident they may choose to live with friends in other forms of accommodation. The average stay in a Homestay is between 4 to 6 weeks. HFS London has a minimum stay policy of 2 weeks and there is no upper limit.
You may find that a student books a Homestay for an initial period and then asks to extend with you. In this scenario, please refer them directly to us so that we can co-ordinate this with their place of study and all other relevant parties. HFS London is happy for a student and Host Family to stay together as long as all parties are happy with the arrangement.
The shorter term students tend to come to London to study at the capital’s language schools. The longer term students usually come here to study at a university or, perhaps, undertake work experience or an internship.
We also get requests from international professionals visiting London who are interested in Homestay for the same reasons as our students. The professionals may sometimes come in groups where the trip has been organised by their company at home and these stays are usually short term.
Students come to London with different levels of English. It is rare that a student cannot speak English at all as many international students are required to start learning English from a very young age in their home countries. You are as likely to host a student with a beginner’s level as you are one with an advanced grasp of the English language.
An international student and his or her parents will plan the trip to the UK carefully. The expense involved in course fees, flights, accommodation, spending money etc to the student’s family will not be insignificant. This usually means that they will take their studies seriously and will want to get the most out of their trip to the UK.
You will often therefore find that, whatever their background, your guest will generally be very open and keen to learn about your family and life here in the UK. They will be mindful that they are coming into a family home and respectful of this fact.
This is feedback that we hear time and time again from our Host Families, and is one of the main reasons why families feel comfortable in opening up their homes to welcome our international guests.