Chinese varsities eyeing local students
With China becoming a popular destination among overseas students, many of its tertiary institutions – including one which recently teamed up with a top American university – are trying hard to woo students from Malaysia and the Asean region.
With China becoming a popular destination among overseas students, many of its tertiary institutions are trying hard to woo students from Malaysia and the Asean region.
SCHOOLS in China wish to attract more students from Malaysia and other A sean countries, as China, following its rapid development over the past four decades, is now a popular education destination.
Despite its friend ly ties with China, Malaysia has yet to be a significant source of international students in the world’ s second largest economy. The total population of Malaysian students in China is smaller than that of Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos combined.
According to the latest statistics released by the Chinese Ministry of Education, the number of foreign students in China exceeded 440,000 in 2016, up by 45,000 com pared to 2012. Reflecting this change, China has become the hottest destination for overseas study in Asia. The number of students from A sean nations studying in China has increased from about50,000 in 2010 to m ore than 80,000 in 2016. Malaysia ranks as only the 15 th largest source of international students for China.
Duke Kunshan University, the leading joint-venture university in China, wishes to attract more students from Malaysia and other Asean countries, as it began accepting applications across the Asia-Pacific region last month for its highly innovative undergraduate degree programme for fall 2018.
Students from Asia and there st of the world are “especially welcomed ”, said Denis Sim on, its executive vice chancellor, as the university is “com m itted to bringing together a diverse cohort of high-quality students from across the world. We are building a truly global university in China, which makes us unique in the Chinese context .”
Countries like Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia are experiencing significant economic growth and are playing a greater role in the region, Sim on emphasised .
Sitting close to Shanghai and in the heart of the Yangtze River Delta region, China’ s major economic hub, Duke Kunshan University is an id eal option for those who wish to pursue a world-class education while having the chance to live and stud y in China.
The university seeks to recruit atleast 50 overseas students as part of its initial class of 225.
As a product of the collaboration between Duke University, an institution consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the United States, and Wuhan University in China, Duke Kunshan will begin to offer a wide range of undergraduate majors from August nextyear.
Over the past few months, the university’ s recruitment team travel led across Asia visiting high schools to introduce Duke Kunshan and specific details about the undergraduate programme. Soon, they will have another extensive recruitment trip to cities all over Asia to conductin form ation sessions and further introd uce the program m e to prospective applicants and parents.
Other universities in China are also trying to recruitm ore Malaysian stud ents.
Jinan U niversity (JNU ), in a rare m ove, published on its website a recruitm ent notice for Malaysian stud ents only earlier this year.
It targets Malaysian stud ents aged between 18 and 30, and includ es the d etailed application proced ure.
Based in Guangzhou, JNU , found ed in 1906, has m ore overseas stud ents than any other university in China.
Stud ying in China is a great chance to see the country’s econom ic transition, its boom - ing entrepreneurship and its tech ind ustry.
“Studying about entrepreneurship in Peking University has been very inspiring ,” said Phua Yuyu, 23, from Selangor. “This is my first time in China and Beijing has amazed me in so many different ways .”
He is attending th eLSE -P KU summer school in Beijing, to learn about the entrepreneurial activities in different regions of the world , especially in China.
By attending this course, Phua said he was able to learn how Ba i du became successful by catering their services specifically to the Chinese audience.
China is also opening cam puses abroad . The well-known Xi amen University has opened a branch near Kuala Lum pur.
Xi amen University Malaysia is the first overseas cam pus setup by a renowned Chinese university. Beginning to recruit students in February 2016, XMU ’s current enrolment has reached 1,900, 440 of whom are from China.
Ed ucation experts believe m ore Malaysians will choose China, d riven by the am bitious Belt and Road Initiative.
Tan Hao, an ed ucation expert based in Beijing, said : “Malaysian stud ents should n’t just consider traditional destinations like the U nited States and Europe.”
Asia is now the largest source of overseas stud ents in China. Nearly 60% of all 442,773 foreign stud ents currently in China com e from Asia, accord ing to the MOE. — China Daily