China is attracting an increasing number of foreign students, who are coming to study different fields like medicine, engineering and economics.
The following is an excerpt from a report in the magazine – International Higher Education.
According to a statistical report on international students in China from 2000 to 2015 released by the Ministry of Education, numbers increased from 52,150 in 2000 to 397,635 in 2015.
Asia was the largest source continent: 60.4% of international students came from Asian countries in 2015. Second was Europe, with 16.79% of all international students coming from that region. In turn, African students comprised 12.52% of the total number, followed by students from America (8.79%) and from Oceania (1.51%).
As for countries of origin, South Korea has been sending the most students to China since 2000 and since 2008 the United States has been the second country on the list. In 2015, Korea sent 66,672 students to China (16.77%) and the United States 21,975 students (5.53%). In recent years, the number of international students from India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam and other Asian countries has increased dramatically.
In terms of academic level, while the percentage of non-degree students has been decreasing since 2000, this grouping remains the majority. In 2015, 53.53% were non-degree students, while the proportion of undergraduate students had increased to 32.17% , and 13.47% were graduate students.
The percentage of students receiving a Chinese Government Scholarship decreased very slightly from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, 10.28%, falling to 10.21% in 2015.
The top five fields of study of international students were literature, Chinese medicine, engineering, Western medicine and economics. The percentage of students taking literature has declined in the past 15 years – but 53.6% still study literature.
Meanwhile, the share of students taking Chinese medicine decreased from 7.09% in 2000 to 3.09% in 2015. The percentage of students taking engineering, Western medicine and economics increased, with Western medicine as the most attractive, with 8.75%. The share of students taking engineering and economics reached 6.56% and 4.7% respectively.
Scholarship programmes
There are several Chinese scholarship programmes available for international students, such as the Confucius Institute Scholarship programme and local government scholarships.
The Chinese Government Scholarship is the most important programme, covering in particular living expenses and health insurance.
Notably, the Confucius Institute Scholarship programme has become increasingly important in recent years. In 2016, there were as many as 8,840 Confucius Institute Scholarship students in China.
Further, some provinces of China set up local government scholarships. Jiangsu Province, for instance, has set up the Jasmine Jiangsu Government Scholarship, while the government of Beijing launched the Beijing Government Scholarship for International Students (BGS) to support outstanding international students studying in Beijing.
The Confucius Institute is a new form of educational cooperation between China and foreign countries. For instance, the ‘Confucius China Studies Programme’ is a study programme for foreign students to study in China. In 2016, the programme recruited 72 students from 26 countries to study in joint research PhD programmes or pursue PhD degrees.
Chinese universities offer many English-taught courses. According to China’s ministry of education, in 2009 some 34 Chinese universities offered English-taught graduate programmes in business and management, engineering, social science, humanities and other fields. By 2018 more than 100 universities offered English-taught courses, according to the China Scholarship Council website.
Work permits
Providing work permits is an increasingly important strategy for countries that want to attract more international students. International students in China can work after receiving a permit. Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou have published information about how to apply for work permits. Recently, the Chinese government decided to set up a New Immigration Bureau to focus on the immigration of international students.
The increase in the number of international students is a result of the economic and education cooperation between China and other countries. China launched the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ in 2013 to stimulate economic and education cooperation with Asian and African countries as well as with some European countries.
According to data about international students studying in China in 2017 released by the Ministry of Education, more than 60% come from ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ regions, upon which China will rely heavily in the next few years in terms of incoming students.
Link to full report – https://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ihe/article/view/10945
