This study explores the influences of culture and cooperative or competitive school learning environments on Chinese and UK University students’ preferences for cooperative, competitive and individualistic learning approaches. Qualitative interviews were conducted with six Chinese undergraduates from a Chinese university and six UK undergraduates from a UK university. Participants were presented with vignettes depicting cooperative, competitive, and individualistic classroom scenarios and asked to discuss their lived experience and learning preferences. Thematic analysis indicated that cultural and educational influences on learning preferences are reflected in the teacher-/student-centred classroom environment, learning goals, students’ own feelings about learning in different environments, and parents’ feelings related to students’ learning performance. We suggest that cultural and educational factors tend to intertwine to affect learners’ perceptions of and preferences for different learning approaches.