The fine art of bringing Chinese students to US schools
AUTUMN is around the corner and students are gearing up to start university across the country. But many will be looking further afield, heading for the United States for fine arts courses that are becoming more competitive at home.
A rising number of Chinese students are using the opportunity of studying overseas to major in various fine arts, ranging from film and dance to painting and design. It’s a marked departure from the usual preference for the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.
“We’ve historically seen that many Chinese students are very reputation and rankings focused when selecting where they want to study. And the US is home to more than one-third of the top 50 art and design schools in the world,” says Jessica Brandt, director of resource management at educational trends-research company World Education Services.
A 2016 study by the company found that the number of Chinese students enrolled in fine and applied arts programmes in the US has more than tripled growing much faster compared to leading subjects, such as engineering, business and management, math and computer science.
The intense competition for spots in leading art and design programmes in China fuels the trend. The Beijing Film Academy, one of the country’s top universities for fine arts, received nearly 25,000 applications in 2015. Of those, 498 were accepted. That’s less than 2 percent.
Acceptance rates at universities around the country are similarly low. Nearly 900,000 applicants taking the national college entrance exam for fine arts in China every year. This leaves a huge number of students unable to pursue their interests.
That means many students, who want a top art education – even if they do not get into China’s elite universities – will likely continue to consider leading universities in places like the United States.
That, coupled with a growing job market in China that is seeing more professional opportunities in the art sector, makes majoring in fine arts abroad a solid choice for many Chinese students.
Many art students tell China Daily that the flexibility of foreign university programmes make fine arts education abroad very attractive.
A special entrance exam is required to get into an art university in China. It can take nearly two years of preparation. International arts programmes simply require a portfolio and a letter of interest, which many Chinese students find more achievable.
Chu Yiwen went to an extremely competitive high school in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province. She decided to study art only near the end of high school, when it was too late to begin preparing for the examinations.
“I love my country, but the system was not very suitable for me because I hadn’t figured out what I really wanted to do with my life.
“It would also have taken much more time to prepare for the exam here instead of just applying to schools internationally,” said Chu, a senior who studies 3D design at the University of Iowa.
Hu Rui, a student from Guangzhou, earned an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in film and a master’s degree in media arts from New York University. He says that more Chinese students are considering art a viable option.
“There are more people starting to think about studying art,” he said. “But it was difficult – almost impossible – to transfer schools or switch majors in Chinese universities, so I thought I’d come to the US.”
The number of Chinese enrolled in public universities in the US has soared from about 20,000 in 2008 to more than 140,000 in 2016, a recent paper by the US National Bureau of Economic Research shows.
Some Chinese art students who graduate from US universities feel torn over whether to stay in their host country or return home.
They also struggle to place their own styles after receiving a Western education. Hu said that he would love to “compromise” by creating in both countries.
“Now that I have roots in China and the US when it comes to my art, my dream would be to have a life where I can do both, appreciate my Chinese upbringing as well as my art education.”