Summary

According to statistics recently released by the Chinese Ministry of Education around 662,100 students left the country to study abroad in 2018, up 8.9 per cent compared to the previous year. While slightly slower than last year's 11.7 per cent growth, this still represents a substantial increase.

Within this data, the MoE also published information on scholarship-funded and self-funded students. There is a sharp difference between these two trends. Self-funded students, who make up the around 90 per cent of the total, increased by over 10 per cent compared to the previous year. In contrast the number of scholarship-funded students actually fell. Students on central government scholarships were down more than 3 per cent, while those funded by government-related organisations dropped by a little less than 1 per cent.

The statistics also show that the large majority of Chinese students return home after finishing their course. The MoE estimates that around 583,000 students would have completed their overseas course in 2018, while the number of returnees was a little over 519,000 or 89 per cent of this total.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst, British Council International Education Services

Despite continuing improvements to China's domestic higher education system, outbound student numbers continue to grow. This is mainly driven by increasing affluence of Chinese families, while the reputation of overseas education continues to be strong and domestic postgraduate places still falls well short of the number of Chinese students who want to study at this level.

The importance of personal returns to overseas education is underlined by the very high proportion of self-funded students. Almost nine in ten of these students return to China to seek work after graduation, and this proportion is likely even higher among UK-bound students due to the UK's stricter post-study work visa regime. This means that employability after returning home is a critical factor in Chinese students' study decisions. The British Council recently published a research report on this topic analysing Chinese employers' needs and their perceptions of returning Chinese graduates.

Sources

1. China Daily - Chinese students studying abroad up 8.83%: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201903/28/WS5c9c355da3104842260b30eb.html

2. Ministry of Education - 2018 outbound international students reach 662,100 (in Chinese, with more detail than the China Daily report): http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2019-03/27/content_5377428.htm

3. British Council - China's employment market: Perceptions of UK graduates: https://education-services.britishcouncil.org/news/reports/chinas-employment-market-perceptions-of-uk-graduates