Source of revenue for western academia
Many Western universities have greeted Chinese students as a welcome new source of revenue, writes Kathrin Hille in Beijing .
In the US, especially many state universities, struggling with shrinking public funds, have stepped up international marketing and targeted China as one of the most important markets.
“The Chinese are attractive not just because there are so many but also because they are ready to pay their own way through university,” says an official at Education USA, the educational services bureau at the state department.
China has become the largest source of international students for the US, the UK, Canada and Australia with Chinese students generating $2.5bn in revenues every year, according to Grok China, an education consultancy.
For Canada, revenues derived from Chinese students – including fees and spending – now exceed those from any other area of trade with China including big-ticket natural resource products, according to the Canadian government.
But many universities are now starting to wonder how to balance the economic benefits with the goal to have a diverse balance of nationalities.
“Five years ago, we had just three or four Chinese students among our 150 international students, and now Chinese account for one-third of our international students,” says Jim Miller, director of admission and enrollment services at University of Wisconsin-Superior. “We don’t want it to rise to 50 per cent.”
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