Education
Meeting China’s EDUCATION
NEEDS
Education is viewed in China as the chief means of increasing one’s standard of living, as well as bringing success to one’s family. With this rationale in mind, Australian education providers have the complex task of designing their curricula and teacher hiring policy to consider the social value of their education programs to the Chinese student and his or her relatives, the employment value to the student, as well as their own profit motive. China has two primary goals in seeking to
improve the levels of its workforce. Firstly, it aims to develop research specialities and a competitive advantage in sciences such as oceanography, nuclear physics and radiochemistry through the training and development of postgraduate students. A large proportion of the Chinese education budget of RMB216 billion is used towards this goal. The second objective is to simultaneously open the education market to the majority of the population while emphasising the creation of elite institutions. Despite having one of the highest-quality and
well-funded educational systems in the world, Australia services China’s educational needs through running private colleges onshore. In terms of the Australian educational services offered on the Chinese mainland, 25 per cent of these courses are vocational education and training. China has an excellent education system.
However, China’s domestic education system struggles to expand to meet demand. Currently there are only 2000 Chinese institutions of higher education shared by a significantly larger population of 1.3 billion people. The shortage of places remains one of the key reasons why an increasing number of Chinese students are seeking high quality education overseas. In addition to the fierce competition for university
places, China has also realised the importance of vocational and adult education. There is a potentially huge demand from mature age students (i.e. 24 years and over) that is currently not being met. In 2009, a total of 229,000 Chinese went to study
abroad, an increase of 27.5 per cent over last year with 53 per cent of them already holding Bachelor and Masters Degrees. Flows of students from China to Australia are
already substantial. China contributes almost one quarter of Australia’s total exports from education service. Australian education enjoys a good reputation among Chinese students in terms of
150 Australia China: BEYOND TOMORROW
“There is a potentially huge demand from mature age students that is currently not being met”
global university rankings. However, this market is one of the most competitive in the world, with other key players including the USA, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Germany and France. Providing education also requires other special
considerations. Chinese laws require agencies to be registered with the national government, via a process of nominations from provincial/municipal authorities. No foreign organisations are permitted and unapproved agents are prevented from advertising. The laws prevent agents from actively recruiting students at secondary schools (children under 15 years of age). Institutions need to market products according to the
various needs of different provinces and municipalities. For example, Beijing is very much a postgraduate market while some of the other provincial cities (e.g. Zhejiang and Chengdu) appear to be more focused on high school education. It is also worth noting that the educational relationship
between Australia and China is not merely the student numbers. Both countries are working towards, and should continue to, broaden our education interaction in research collaboration, education partnerships and exchange programs.
Tom Neale Tom Neale is the head of the Australia China Youth Association at the University of Sydney and worked as an English teacher and foreign teacher recruitment officer in Qingdao.
CHINA
Image courtesy of Charles Sturt University
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