Written by Yuhua Zhang, GEI Associate
Based on the most recent statistics from Institute of International Education, China maintains the largest source of foreign students in US for consecutive six academic years since 2009/2010. In 2014/2015 academic year, 31.2 percent of international students in US are from China, the proportion has risen by over 10 percent in the last six years.
There seems three main reasons which lead the current situation. First, US schools can indeed provide world’s leading quality of education, which has been proved by top world school rankings; Second, the higher income of Chinese families in recent decade motivates their higher demand of education for next generation’s competitiveness; Third, in order to avoid extremely heavy pressure by China college entrance examinations, study abroad is an ideal alternative way for Chinese students.
Although the growth rate of total overseas student from China to US declined recently, China is still expected to be US largest source of international students. Chinese students have become large business to US.
On the one hand, in 2014/2015 academic year, there are total amount of 304,040 Chinese students enrolled in US colleges, according to the IIE report, Chinese students pumped $9.8 billion into US economy through just tuition and relevant fees. It is worth mentioning that the number still does not count the living expenses and additional consumption needs for entertainment and other activities. Thereby, Chinese students have been bringing significant economic benefits to US.
On the other hand, the social contact between Chinese and US students not only promotes culture communication between the east and the west, but also bring useful work skills to both of them. They are collaborative partners and also rivals, as the world will ultimately belong to next generation, the co-learning opportunity exactly structures a bridge to promote potential economic and business cooperation between the world’s top largest economic entities.
Whereas Chinese students have become a larger group in US colleges, school organizations are necessary to take effective actions to help them integrate into US life, and facilitate closer communication with local students by holding more meaningful seminars and other activities.
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