The education market is seeing a major shake-up amid the pandemic, as agencies that provide overseas study services are forced to shift their focus, and international universities work harder to lure prospects. Chai Hua reports from Shenzhen.
A British Council employee talks about studying in the United Kingdom at an international education fair in Beijing on March 25, 2017. (A JING / FOR CHINA DAILY)
The Chinese mainland’s overseas studies business has been adversely hurt as the COVID-19 crisis rages across the globe, with schools closed, university entrance examinations postponed, and international travel reduced to a trickle.
The mainland is the world’s largest source of international students, with the sector’s total market value estimated at 250 billion yuan (US$35.3 billion) and more than 660,000 students studying on overseas campuses in 2019, according to investment platform PE Daily.
Although the coronavirus pandemic has pushed down the market’s annual 8 percent growth rate, some agencies that have been helping students make their way to overseas tertiary educational institutions have moved on to greener pastures, cashing in on the growing number of people in the workplace wanting to return to studies by offering the workers online tests and newly popular destinations.
Studying abroad has somewhat lost its luster in the past few years. Some destinations, such as the United States and Australia, had gone downhill on the list of preferences even before the coronavirus struck
Chen Zhiwen, editor-in-chief of EOL
“We’ve seen almost zero growth in applications for admission to colleges in Australia and New Zealand since May. Generally, only 60 to 70 percent of students we’ve helped managed to complete their applications in March and April,” said He Chugang, general manager of the Guangzhou administration center at Amber Education, an overseas studies consultancy.
Online course set
But what’s surprising is that inquiries from people who are already working are on the rise this year.
According to He, the pandemic has forced many enterprises to cut salaries or reduce their headcounts, piling up financial pressure on employees and driving their will to compete. One option is to further their studies as chances of job-hopping or cherry-picking become virtually nonexistent.
Amber Education says consultations from this group of clients at the center has gone up by 16 percent in the first five months of this year, compared with the same period in 2019. The number of people making inquiries is likely to climb substantially in the second half of this year — traditionally a busy time for the industry.
He said Hong Kong universities, especially those offering graduate courses, are gaining traction among mainland students because of lower costs and Hong Kong’s geographical proximity to the mainland.
Another opportunity for them is the emergence of online tests. With examinations like the GRE and GMAT, and English proficiency tests IELTS and TOEFL scrapped from February to June on the mainland, Amber Education has switched to an internet-based alternative, the Duolingo English test, by launching new training classes accordingly.
The online language certification system is becoming popular in gaining admission to overseas universities, especially those in the United Kingdom.
Students’ choices of destinations have changed amid the worldwide public-health crisis, said Chen Zhiwen, editor-in-chief of EOL, China’s largest online education portal. He said choice destinations are becoming more diversified, with some countries such as Japan emerging as the cream of the crop.
He said studying abroad has somewhat lost its luster in the past few years. Some destinations, such as the United States and Australia, had been going downhill on the list of preferences even before the coronavirus struck. As one of the largest destinations for mainland students, the US accounts for about one-third of the global market share, but the speed of growth has slowed in the past six years, he said.
He believes the pandemic will accelerate the downward trend, and more cost-efficient offers are preferred. In addition, international education within borders could be the substitute, leading to a boom in Sino-overseas cooperative schools and universities.
Many international schools have also been hit. Aimed at luring cross-border students, as well as professionals, they’re now offering more scholarships, easing admissions requirements and opening up online courses.
The Institute of International Education conducted a survey of 234 US institutions of higher learning in March with regard to Chinese student mobility. More than 45 percent of the institutions said they now offer options for independent or remote studies, while about 38 percent arrange online classes.
More than 30 higher-education institutions in the US, including the University of California and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have suspended standardized test requirements for students applying for admission next year.
The market will rebound
However, what matters most at such a difficult time is the schools’ core competitiveness, said Ran Wei, chief expert in overseas studies at New Channel International Education Group. He said some less-prominent universities, which became popular in the past few years amid a market boom, are losing steam, while consultations it received tend to concentrate on the world’s top teaching facilities.
But he’s convinced that the overseas education market will rebound and keep expanding because the rigid demand has remained unchanged.
Ran pointed out that admission to higher educational institutions on the mainland is intensively competitive, while overseas options are readily available.
Data from the Chinese Ministry of Education showed that the number of candidates taking national college entrance examinations this year soared to 10.71 million — the highest in a decade. However, only half of them would make it to undergraduate schools, about 5 percent to the nation’s top 100 schools, and only 0.4 percent has the chance to get admitted to the top 10.
Moreover, the number of university graduates is projected to reach 8.74 million this year, but the annual increase in new jobs available in the urban areas is about 12 million. Many graduates pursue overseas postgraduate courses with the dream of landing a more-desirable job upon graduation, considering that international studies would add a bonus point to their resumes.
In Ran’s view, studying overseas is a rigid hope rather than an option among students from deep-pocketed Chinese mainland families. Many average-income parents would still prefer to send their children abroad if they could, he said.
Contact the writer at grace@chinadailyhk.com
