Summary

Data released in the Chinese Ministry of Education’s annual communique shows that the country had a total of 289 million students at all levels in 2020, with participation rates continuing to increase at all levels. Most notably the country’s higher education entrance rate rose to 54.4 per cent, which is now firmly above the most recent UK data on higher education initial participation rates (51.9 per cent in 2018/19).

At the higher education level the number of students enrolled in undergraduate programmes – including both bachelor’s degrees and higher vocational courses – rose by 8.4 per cent to 32.9 million, while the number of postgraduates increased 9.6 per cent to 3.14 million. Adult education students and those registered for online courses also increased substantially, bringing total HE enrolment to 41.8 million.

Pre-school enrolment also continued to increase, with more than 48 million students enrolled in kindergartens and an overall entrance rate of 85.2 per cent. Nearly 85 per cent of these children were enrolled in “public interest” kindergartens, referring to public kindergartens or private institutions with prices below a designated affordable level.

At the upper secondary level the proportion of students continuing to post-compulsory education after the age of 15 increased to 91.2 per cent. 41.3 million students were enrolled at this level, including 24.9 million at academic senior high schools and 16.3 million at vocational secondary schools.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst, International Education Services

As mentioned above, the proportion of Chinese young people entering higher education is now higher than the UK’s most recently reported rate. However the two figures are not directly comparable as only around half of China’s HE entrants enrol on bachelor’s degree programmes, with the remainder studying higher vocational diploma courses. Data is not yet available on the breakdown of bachelor’s degrees vs vocational higher education in 2020, but recent Chinese government policies have focused on vocational courses and it is likely that most of the growth is coming from this type of provision.

From the perspective of UK HE institutions, the increase in Chinese HE provision is both an opportunity and a threat. Despite an increase in local postgraduate provision the country still has more potential students than places available, which creates demand for overseas higher education even as domestic universities become more attractive. On the other hand, higher vocational students tend to be less likely to study a postgraduate course either domestically or overseas, so the effect will likely be smaller than the total student growth figures suggest.

Like the growth in HE, the increase in pre-school and upper secondary enrolment is in line with government strategies which see education participation rates as an important priority. As well as the increase in participation rates pre-school enrolments have been increased by a bump in birth-rates after China’s one-child policy was relaxed in 2016, although this increase was short-lived bump in birth rates and the number of potential students will resume its decline over the next few years.

Sources

http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/202103/t20210301_516062.html