Despite the size and diversity of China’s education system, there is substantial demand for overseas education due to a small number of places available per capita. Since most urban families have only one child because of China’s family planning policy, parents tend to give their children the best education they can. Recent surveys have indicated that children’s education is the top investment priority of Chinese families, ahead of buying houses, saving for retirement and all other investment options.
China has an excellent education system; however, China’s domestic education system struggles to expand to meet demand. There are currently not enough places for students wishing to enter university for the 150 million people in the 17–24 age group looking for opportunities in higher education.
In addition to the fierce competition for university places, China has also realized the importance of vocational and adult education. There is a potentially huge demand from mature age students (ie. 24 years and over) that is currently not being met.
The role of the government in China is far more substantial than in the USA and there is government involvement in most activities that involves foreigners or overseas organizations. The government relationship is crucial, both for student flows to the USA and for all other aspects of the USA education relationship, including the in-China provision of courses.
Higher education comprises junior college, Bachelor, Master and Doctoral degree programs. In 2006, there were 1,147 junior colleges and 720 universities countrywide offering 5,460,500 places for junior college and bachelor programs; 56,000 places for doctoral programs; and 342,000 places for master programs. Included in these colleges and universities are more than 317 research institutions approved by the Ministry of Education.
Medium level colleges offer certificate courses which, however, cannot be converted into diploma courses. The medium level professional schools and technical colleges offer basic to intermediate vocational training, both long term and short-term courses. Since the 1980s, there has been a rapid increase in the level of government recognition regarding the importance of Chinese vocational and technical education, and there has also been a sharp increase in the number of students attending such courses.
In 2006, there were 18.1 million students enrolled in 14,693 vocational and technical schools nationwide.
Higher level vocational and technical schools cater for more sophisticated vocational training such as IT or sophisticated manufacturing. The courses can also generally be taken at diploma level. There are currently 921 higher level vocational and technical education institutions in China.
USA is one of the leading foreign providers of courses in China. During the last five years, there has been a dramatic increase in student visa applications to study in the USA. For information about China's Education Market webinar, please log on http://www.midwestUSAChina.com
