Insight: binge drinking on UK campuses alienates foreign students

It's Carnage, literally, in university cities across Britain, and many young international students may be wondering what has hit them.

Carnage has been voted "the UK's number one student event" - according to its website - and is a staple of Freshers' Week.

Buy the T-shirt, cut it to skimpy shreds according to the fancy dress theme, and use it as a ticket for one long bar crawl that has been known to turn city centres into, well, carnage.

As the term kicks off, the party has just begun, and for some students it will continue for much of the academic year. Alcohol in large quantities will feature prominently in their university experience.

Having witnessed one of these events on a cold English night, one thing was evident: very few Hong Kong and other international students were there. Shivering in a long queue to the next bar, and becoming increasingly ill as the night wears on, is not their idea of fun.

Rather than being an opportunity to make friends from different cultures, such nights seem to drive home an early wedge.

Hong Kong and mainland students have told me that although they do make friends from around the world while studying in Britain, they don't mix much with the locals, and cite alcohol as a reason.