Summary

According to an official announcement by China's Ministry of Education, the country's number of outbound international students has increased substantially, reaching 608,400 students in 2017. This represents an 11.7 per cent increase over the number of students going abroad in 2016, a substantial increase from the 4 per cent rate of increase seen in 2016.

The official also stated that the number of students returning to China after studying abroad had increased to 480,900. This means that the proportion of returning students remains at slightly over 79 per cent, similar to the proportion last year.

The number of students sent abroad with funding from the central government has increased significantly more slowly, growing by only 4 per cent. However, the number of employees of government-related organisations (a category which includes teachers and university academics) sent abroad to study has increased greatly, more than doubling to almost 36,000.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst, SIEM East Asia

China's outbound student numbers still show no sign of slowing down, despite improving local HE provision and a falling student-age population. Instead, higher awareness of overseas education and the country's increasingly wealthy population have meant that overseas study is more accessible to Chinese people.

Nevertheless, this rate of growth is slower than the 15.4 per cent increase in UK Tier 4 visas issued to Chinese citizens in 2017, confirming that the UK gained market share in 2017, which reaches 14.46%. This is partly due to the fall in the value of the pound making UK education relatively cheaper in comparison to other major destination countries. Other factors supporting the UK’s strong growth in market share include the country’s strong position in transnational education and sustained investment in marketing and promotion of UK education in China.

The continuing rise in overseas Chinese student numbers will come as welcome news to UK education institutions, but at the same time increasing dependence on Chinese student numbers brings its own risks. Over the longer term, Chinese universities are getting better, the number of available local university places (and especially postgraduate places) is increasing, and the number of Chinese students graduating from high school is decreasing. At some point these trends will overtake the rising demand for overseas study. Yet even as the market matures and eventually begins a gradual decline, China will remain the world’s most important source of international students in the foreseeable future.

Source           

Ministry of Education (in Chinese): http://www.moe.edu.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/201803/t20180329_331771.html