Traditional Chinese culture places great emphasis on education, so there is no shortage of choices for those who wish to receive quality education in China. China has also become the preferred destination for international students. As of 2013, China is the most popular country in Asia for international students, ranking third among the countries. As of 2018, the country has the second top university in the world.
Chinese universities offer many different types of courses, some of which are often listed as one of the top universities in the world. The most prestigious universities in China are Peking University in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai, while Tsinghua University in Beijing and Shanghai Jiaotong University are the top universities of science and technology. Of course there are many others, some of which are also excellent.
International Education
As of January 2015, the International School Consulting Company (ISC) has listed China as 481 international schools. The International Study Center uses the following terms to define “international school”: if the school offers courses to any combination of preschool, elementary or secondary school, using English in whole or in part outside of an English-speaking country, or if it is a school in a country where English is one of the official languages, Provide English-intermediate courses in addition to national courses, and is an international course. “This definition is used by publications including “The Economist.” In 2014, 177,400 students attended international schools.
In 2013, Nicholas Blumit, the managing director of the International Study Center, reported that as of 2013, there were 338 international schools in mainland China with 184,073 students. Slightly more than half of the international schools are located in the main expatriate regions of China: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province, while the rest are in other regions. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have the most international schools, while Shenzhen and Chengdu also have a considerable number of schools.
According to Chinese law, many international schools in Beijing and Shanghai only allow students with citizenship to be admitted outside of mainland China. This is because mainland Chinese students need to have a certain course, and schools that do not include this course are not allowed to register mainlanders. Mainland children holding foreign passports can enter these schools. Students from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan can go to international schools for foreigners. As of 2014, the 19 international schools in Beijing are restricted to non-mainlanders. There are also some schools that use international courses to accept mainlanders and non-mainland students.
By 2004, the increase in international business operations led to an increase in foreign children. Many of the first post-1949 international schools used the International Baccalaureate and North American curriculum. By 2004, many international schools using British courses in Beijing and Shanghai had opened. In 2013, the number of international schools increased from 22 international schools in 2001, and the total number of students decreased by 25 times. By 2010, many mainland Chinese parents began to send their children to international schools, which accepted mainland students to increase their children’s chances of going abroad.
In recent years, China has more and more representatives of international universities, including but not limited to CEIBS and Beijing Yale University. The Columbia Global Center opened in Beijing in 2009, and the Harvard Research Institute opened in Shanghai in 2010. Cornell Global plans to start operations in Beijing and Shanghai. MIT has an innovation node in Hong Kong. Stanford University has established an academic center at Peking University.
Higher education
By the end of 2004, China had 2,236 higher education institutions with more than 20 million students; the enrollment rate of higher education institutions reached 19%. Postgraduate education is the fastest-growing sector. The number of students recruited increased by 24.1% over the previous year, and the number of researchers increased by 25.9%. This increase in enrollment indicates that China has entered the stage of mass education. The UNESCO World Higher Education Report in June 2003 pointed out that the number of students in Chinese higher education institutions has doubled in a short period of time, making it the largest in the world.
In recent reforms, special attention has been paid to improving the system. Many industrial multi-academies and colleges have been established, some incomplete disciplines have been strengthened, and new majors have been established, such as automation, nuclear energy, energy, oceanography, nuclear physics, computer science, polymer chemistry, polymer physics, Radiochemistry, physical chemistry and biophysics. In 1993, the project of establishing 100 world-class universities began, and 708 higher education institutions were merged into 302 universities. The merger of higher education institutions has carried out far-reaching reforms in the management of higher education, optimized the allocation of educational resources, and further improved the quality of teaching and school standards.
Between 1999 and 2003, higher education enrollment increased from 1.6 million to 3.82 million. In 2004, the enrollment of regular higher education institutions was 4.473 million, an increase of 651,000 over 2003. The number of postgraduates enrolled in universities and research institutes was 326,000, an increase of 57,000 over the previous year. In 2010, China is expected to have 6.3 million students graduating from college or university, and 63% of them may enter the labor force.
The contribution of higher education sector research to China’s economic construction and social development is becoming more and more obvious. By strengthening the cooperation between production, teaching and scientific research, colleges and universities are accelerating the process of transforming scientific and technological research results into products, resulting in many high-tech enterprises and important innovations. 43 national university science parks have been launched or approved, some of which have become important bases for research and commercialization.
Overseas students
Since the reform and opening up, the number of foreigners who wish to study in China has increased by about 20% every year. According to official government data, 195,503 overseas students from 188 countries and regions went to the mainland to study in 2007, but it is believed that this number is about 300,000 regions because government data does not include students studying in private language schools. This makes China the sixth largest study abroad destination in the world.
If you like to study in China, make sure to have your document authenticated by the Chinese embassy. Here is the China document authentication service you can use.