According to local media reports, Sino-foreign joint degree programmes, joint institutes and joint campuses are becoming increasingly popular. A report from Caixin gives examples of several joint campuses seeing a boom in popularity. Wenzhou Kean University has received an "explosive number of applications" and admitted 500 students in 2015 compared to just 300 in 2014, while the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Shenzhen, which was set up by CUHK and Shenzhen University, doubled its number of admissions this year to 626, expanding recruitment to five more provinces. Other similar joint campuses have also increased their recruitment.

Along with increasing enrolment, the increased demand for TNE places is reflected in higher entry requirements. CUHK Shenzhen's gaokao (national university entrance exam) requirements increased by an average of 16 points this year, putting it well above the threshold for "tier 1" universities, and Wenzhou Kean University raised the scores for applicants from the eastern province of Shandong, where many students were applying, by 28 points.

The report attributes the popularity of joint campuses to several factors. These institutions have very high proportions of students going on to employment or further study, and graduates were much more likely to be employed in foreign or joint venture companies, which generally offer higher pay and better benefits than domestic firms. The article gives the example of the University of Nottingham-Ningbo, where 32 per cent of graduates find jobs in foreign or joint venture companies, compared to only 2.6 per cent of graduates from other universities in Zhejiang province. 60 per cent of graduates from Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) were employed by these companies. Joint campuses also have a high proportion of students going on to study postgraduate degrees overseas, while tuition fees at these campuses are considerably cheaper than the amount students would pay at the universities' home campuses.

Analysis:

Transnational education, including joint degree programmes and joint institutes as well as the joint campuses discussed in Caixin's report, is seen as attractive to many Chinese students due to its quality teaching resources combined with more affordable tuition fees than studying overseas. Many students see these colleges as giving them a level-up in their career prospects, in part because many classes are taught in English and graduates generally have better language skills. Despite a slowdown in the pace of approvals for new programmes as the government focuses on quality over quantity, the overall development trend of Sino-foreign cooperative projects is still positive.

Increasing gaokao score requirements show that joint campuses can afford to be more selective due to the higher number of potential students. However, most joint programmes still have lower gaokao entry requirements than their host institutions, and for some students this is also a key reason to apply to these programmes.

Sources:
1. http://m.china.caixin.com/m/2015-08-07/100837411.html
2. http://english.caixin.com/2015-08-07/100837682.html