The main controversy as a result of the commercialisation of international education markets is that international students especially those from China are unable to perform as well as UK students in UK universities. So far, research has yet to identify the influence of placements on the academic performance of Chinese students from entry to graduation. Using four cohorts of accounting and finance students in a UK university, this present work is the first to find that Chinese students who undertake placements in the third year are seven times more likely to achieve good degrees (2.1 or 1st) than those who opt out of work placements. It is also found that Chinese students who have a high prior academic achievement and better academic results from years 1 and 2 are likely to undertake placements. Finally, the results show that the academic performance of international students is influenced by domicile.