Summary

According to a newly released Report on Chinese Students’ Oversea Study 2020 from New Oriental, a major Chinese agent, the UK has, for the first time, surpassed the US becoming the most preferred destination for Chinese students studying abroad. The survey – which was conducted between January and March, before COVID-19 hit the UK and other major international study destinations in earnest – found that the UK was chosen by 42 per cent of respondents vs 37 per cent for the US. These two countries are followed by Australia and Canada. Asian countries, such as Japan and Singapore are also on the rise.

The UK was particularly popular among female students, students studying business- and media-related subjects, and postgraduates. In contrast, the US was still more popular than the UK among male students, science and engineering students, and at the undergraduate and high school levels. The UK was also outperformed by Canada among prospective high school students.

Education quality and safety continue to be the top considerations for students considering overseas study, rated important by 60 and 55 per cent of students respectively. Other important factors include employer recognition, national culture and overall national strength. However, as noted above, COVID-19 had not reached epidemic scale overseas when the survey was carried out, so this may not reflect current sentiment among Chinese students.

Another notable finding is that the proportion of prospective students with previous overseas study experience has grown greatly over the last few years. 42 per cent of 2020 survey respondents had this experience – mainly through short-term summer or winter camps – compared to 27 per cent in 2015.

The survey also showed a continuing increase in the proportion of students studying at private and international schools. Among respondents currently enrolled in basic education, only 53 per cent were studying a domestic Chinese curriculum at a public school, down from 67 per cent in 2015. In contrast, the proportion enrolled at an international school has increased from 2 to 11 per cent. Most of the remainder were studying in international classes at public or private schools that also offer domestic programmes.

Looking at students’ considerations when choosing universities, the university’s ranking, subject area strength and safety issues are still the most important considerations. Looking at trends over time,  teaching arrangements have significantly increased in importance over the last few years, while there has been a slight shift in students’ evaluation of rankings: the importance of overall ranking has increased somewhat over time, while the attention paid towards subject-area ranking shows a declining trend.

Analysis

It is important to place this survey in its time. It was conducted between January and March, mainly before COVID-19 reached epidemic proportions in the UK and other leading study destinations. Since then, research by the British Council and other sources have found important shifts in Chinese attitudes towards studying overseas.

Nevertheless, many of the survey’s findings are still relevant. A major reason for the shift in interest from studying in the US towards the UK was tense Sino-US relations; this trend has if anything intensified over the last few months. Many other underlying trends discovered by the study are unlikely to have been affected by the pandemic, such as the rise in students that have studied international programmes at the high school level or the increasing share of prospective students with prior short-term overseas study experience.

Source

1. New Oriental released the Report on Chinese Students’ Oversea Study 2020 (in Chinese): http://edu.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0630/c1006-31765168.html