China to become popular destination for foreign students

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04:26

Globalization efforts have kicked into high gear for Chinese universities. China's Southwest Jiaotong University recently released its sixth annual ranking of universities in terms of internationalization – based on their faculties, students, courses, academic research, cultural exchanges and exposure in the international community.

Tsinghua University took the top spot on this year's list, followed by Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Zhejiang University.

A student talks with a consultant from an education agency at the China International Education Expo held by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, March 10, 2009. /VCG Photo

"China has made a lot of progress in high education globalization. From 2005 to 2015, the number of international students in China from Africa has increased by 25 times,"said Gu Jiaqi, the founder of Strive for China, a non-profit organization.

"During the same period, the number of students from developed countries has also increased a lot. Students from the U.S. have increased about two times. Part of the reason is the increase of English programs in China."

Strive for China – a platform that advocates the revitalization of Chinese suburban villages – was founded by graduates of Yale University, Tsinghua University and Peking University.

A building on the campus of Tsinghua University in Beijing, October 31, 2018. /VCG Photo

The Chinese government has been paying close attention to this area for years. In 2014, the Ministry of Education released policies aiming to advance the internationalization level of universities and called for supporting student participation in cooperation and exchanges, including overseas study, overseas internship, overseas exchange and supporting young teachers to visit and study abroad.

The ministry also set up the International Cooperation Joint Laboratory Program in the same year as an academic center for international scientific and technological cooperation.

In 2017, the number of Chinese students studying abroad surpassed 600,000 for the first time, jumping 11.74 percent year on year to 608,400 – solidifying China's position as the world's largest source of international students. The number of students returning to China after completing their course abroad jumped 11.19 percent to 480,900.

A building on the campus of Yale University, April 20, 2018. /VCG Photo

China is the most popular destination in Asia for students studying abroad. Students from 204 countries and territories studied in China in 2017, bringing the total number of international students to 489,200, which marked an increase of over 10 percent for the second year in a row. Students from Belt and Road Initiative countries accounted for 64.85 percent of the total population.

"Chinese universities are becoming more and more excellent, the investment is climbing up, the faculties are doing increasingly cutting-edge research, the programs are also getting better so students from foreign countries want to spend some time here," said David Bach, the deputy dean and professor at Yale's School of Management.

Bach added that a previous survey showed many people from emerging markets think that China is becoming a country where people want to learn how things are getting down.

Newly enrolled students arrive at NYU Shanghai, which was co-founded by China and the U.S., August 11, 2013 /VCG Photo

Providing scholarships is one way to further the process of globalization, building a sharing community is crucial as well.

"This ranking is reasonable in some degree but it can be misleading sometimes. It focuses on numbers and figures which are easy to achieve for universities by increasing international faculties. The key for high education globalization is not just an academic immigration, it's an idea that everyone regardless of their background is free to connect, to cooperate and innovate for human being," said Gu Jiaqi.

"Universities are places where the best minds come together to teach the next generation and the next generation will take their places eventually with their best minds," said Bach.