In FocusChinese students, wary of geopolitics, seek international diplomas without leaving home

One Shanghai family made an unconventional choice as they pored over college options this summer: rather than opting for overseas study or one of the many institutions within the borders of the financial centre, they picked a lesser-known university in a third-tier city – a Sino-foreign joint venture they felt would confer career benefits in the long run. Rose Hu said her son gained admission to the Guangdong Technion–Israel Institute of Technology in the coastal city of Shantou to study mechanical engineering and robotics, a field he was passionate about, and one deemed to have strong job prospects. “The biggest attraction of this institution to us is where graduates end up,” Hu said. “Most go on to top master’s programmes in the United States, the United Kingdom or Hong Kong, which aligns perfectly with our plan – we’re committed to science, technology, engineering and mathematics and intend for our son to pursue a graduate degree at a renowned university. “Tuition is also reasonable for a regular family. If he studied abroad, it could cost 10 times more.” Hu said studying at the institute cost 100,000 yuan (US$14,826) a year, but those costs would be significantly defrayed with a 40,000-yuan scholarship. The family made their decision amid a period of explosive growth in higher education joint ventures in China. In May, the Ministry of Education approved more than 80 new joint institutions and over 130 joint programmes at the bachelor’s degree level and above. That followed a boom last year that saw more than 100 institutions gain approval. By early this year, the national total exceeded 320. Like Hu’s son, an increasing number of Chinese students are being lured by these programmes, which allow them to earn a relatively cheap international degree without straying far from home, or becoming embroiled in rising geopolitical tensions. Choosing this institution gives us a clear path in tech-related fields Rose Hu, Shanghai The programmes are also seeing growing interest from international students – mainly from countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative trade development plan, where Chinese companies are investing and hiring more, according to industry insiders. They said the trend could dovetail well with China’s efforts to stimulate its economy and compensate for a drop in domestic student enrolments. “I think the overall number of Chinese students studying overseas is likely to shrink in the next few years,” said Zhang Wuhua, chairman of Shanghai-headquartered Ambright Education, which operates schools that prepare students for overseas education. “This is not due to diminished interest or need, but largely a measured response to concerns including persistent geopolitical volatility. “At the same time, the number of students pursuing a ‘study-abroad’ experience through Sino-foreign cooperative programmes and institutions without leaving China will keep growing.” There were 570,600 Chinese students studying overseas last year, down about 20 per cent from the 2019 peak, according to figures released by the Ministry of Education in April – the first issuance of these numbers since the Covid-19 pandemic. The emerging alternatives offered by Sino-foreign joint institutions align well with the in-demand academic disciplines of science and engineering, a major consideration for Chinese families focused on job prospects and concerned about the higher risks and less rosy career outlooks faced by those studying overseas. By the end of last year, engineering programmes accounted for 48 per cent of these cooperative education initiatives, according to a report released by the Hurun Research Institute in June. Nearly 60 per cent of the Sino-foreign cooperative institutions and programmes that gained approval last year were concentrated in emerging interdisciplinary fields such as artificial intelligence, big data, new energy, bioengineering and advanced manufacturing, Hurun said. Hu said her son was now studying at the institute in Shantou and was enjoying the “international” experience there. All his lecturers except for one were foreigners. “Choosing this institution gives us a clear path in tech-related fields: if his academic performance is not outstanding, he will find a job at a technology firm in the Greater Bay Area after graduation, and if he excels, he can pursue a master’s degree at a more prestigious university overseas,” she said. Sun Yat-sen University’s Lingnan College in Guangzhou launched a full international undergraduate programme taught in English this year. Under its inbound “two plus two” model, students will complete their first two years abroad and then attend Lingnan College for the final two years. One of the first of its kind, the model is expected to help bring international students to China for the later years of their undergraduate degrees, in contrast to the more common outbound “two plus two” model for Chinese students going abroad. “The emergence of this model means that China’s international education is gradually shifting, from a one-way flow of ‘students going abroad’ to a ‘two-way flow of educational resources’,” Zhang said. Lingnan College said in June that the programme was targeting students in countries taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative as a response to “the accelerating overseas expansion of Chinese firms and their urgent need for cross-cultural talent versed in local markets and the Chinese model”. “The motivation is very practical,” Zhang said. “As Chinese companies expand overseas and increase investment in their countries, local annual salaries are often higher than those offered by Japanese and Korean firms. “They hope to increase their chances of entering these companies by studying in China, solidifying their language skills, gaining practical social experience and understanding the knowledge structure that Chinese enterprises require.” These students previously had to choose between Western and Chinese universities, but Zhang said the emergence of Sino-foreign cooperative education means they no longer have to struggle with that choice. For example, if they attended the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, they would receive a University of Nottingham diploma without leaving the country. Domestic universities were also motivated to launch cooperative programmes, largely as a way to improve their difficult financial situations, said Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences. Chinese students going abroad spend tens of billions of yuan every year – why not keep that spending within the country? Zhang Wuhua, Ambright Education At Zhejiang University, for example, tuition fees for regular undergraduate programmes ranged from 5,000 to 6,000 yuan per academic year, but one of its cooperative programmes, the Zhejiang University-University of Edinburgh Institute, charged students from China 160,000 yuan a year. In addition, local governments also provided financial support for cooperative education, which was something universities could not afford to miss out on. “Many universities are currently facing financial problems, with some even unable to pay salaries,” Chu said, adding that he believed the rapid expansion of cooperative education in the past couple of years had primarily been driven by government policy. “This is written into the 15th five-year plan, and there are assessment requirements for universities,” he said. According to China’s education plan for the period from 2026 to 2030, authorities will encourage high-quality foreign universities specialising in science and engineering to set up cooperative programmes in China, and launch international talent development initiatives for outstanding students. Zhang said one of the motivations for that drive was the need to boost domestic economic circulation. “From an economic perspective, Chinese students going abroad spend tens of billions of yuan every year – why not keep that spending within the country?” he said. “And from an educational perspective, it relates to China’s ongoing commitment to opening up.” And overseas students could help fill lecture theatres. In an article published in China Higher Education magazine last year, a Ministry of Education official said university enrolment was expected to peak in 2032. Zhang said: “If we lay the groundwork now, then when the number of Chinese students declines, we will have a large number of overseas students to fill the gap – so this is an arrangement with strategic foresight.” But he warned that the quality of international students being recruited was a concern. He said students in Europe or Southeast Asia tended to regard China’s top universities – which Chinese students fought tooth and nail to get into – as safety options, because the admission threshold for international students at Chinese universities was very low. “They would say, ‘If I can’t get into a local school, then I’ll go to Tsinghua in China’, which is something really sad for our universities,” Zhang said. The Chinese government launched the China Scholastic Competence Assessment exam for international students at the end of last year. Zhang said the National Higher Education Entrance Examination taken by domestic high school students was more than twice as difficult, but even so, placement tests at top universities like Nanjing University and Fudan University found that “a large number” of international students scored just 30 to 40 points out of 100 in mathematics.

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}China’s growing number of educational joint ventures receive more applicants as students seek a simpler path to an international edge

China’s growing number of educational joint ventures receive more applicants as students seek a simpler path to an international edge