China Daily - Universities seek greater enrollment from abroad

[skylee]

I've just read this article and I think since many of the members here are studying / interested in studying in universities in China they might like to read it too -> Universities seek greater enrollment from abroad

[Cat Jones]

Interesting article. The Chinese Universities have a long way to go in improving the quality of English language courses before they can truly be a player in international education. The pool of students who want to come and study here (aside from Mandarin) is stil quite small, and employment prospects here without fluency in Mandarin are poor. Quality of teaching at most Chinese Universities is not up to standard, which is why the winners will be foreign Universities who set up campuses in China.

Chinese Universities will do well in recruiting from geographically close countries - Japan, Korea, Malaysia etc. but they will continue to struggle to recruit from the West (again, I'm not counting Mandarin study). It's too risky a choice for most from the West. It will be a while before study in China becomes a mainstream choice.

[balltennis]

I appreciated the article. I found little in it to indicate the agreement between the US and China leaders to basically "swap" students. It is a plan that can be good for both. I know one Chinese student who has found a great opportunity in getting a History graduate degree in the US, because numbers of US professors in Sinology have fallen drastically. He will be in a good position to fill a US vacancy.

[Kanjiology]

A large majority of the foreign students in my university, Tianjin University, seem to be either from nearby countries; South Korea, Russia, India, Pakistan, Thailand, etc. But we also have a lot of African students too. Students from countries in the West usually come for a semester or year of Chinese study and go back home rather than study for a degree. I'm a bit of anomaly in that I am the only American in the school currently enrolled in a degree program at the school, but I enjoy learning Chinese and want to take this path. The number of foreign students in Chinese universities is increasing, one anectdotal evidence I can give you is that the dorms for foreign students here used to allow every Master's and phD student have their own bedroom just two years ago, and now Master's students have to share a bedroom with one other person like the undergraduate and language students.

[kdavid]

@balltennis

I know one Chinese student who has found a great opportunity in getting a History graduate degree in the US, because numbers of US professors in Sinology have fallen drastically. He will be in a good position to fill a US vacancy.

Could you substantiate this statement? I'm preparing graduate applications now for the upcoming cycle and I see no shortage of either Chinese history graduate students nor of Chinese history professors. In fact, the few decent programs which are out there are very selective as they don't want to over saturate the market with unemployed PhDs.

Why do you feel there is a shortage of US Sinologists?

[skylee]

I found little in it to indicate the agreement between the US and China leaders to basically "swap" students.

Yes. This is quite a standard step of internationalisation. Not sure if such arrangements don't exist in China or the author just forgot to mention them.