Colleges and universities are increasingly looking to China to diversify their enrollments and, in some cases, raise additional revenue. But as a November article in The Chronicle of Higher Education notes, there are many challenges, both before and after the students are admitted.
In the admissions stage, institutions must decide whether Chinese students’ applications and representations of their English-speaking ability are authentic. These issues are sometimes traced to the private education agents who both shepherd students through the admissions process and put schools in touch with interested applicants.
Once enrolled, the students face cultural challenges, such as requirements for class participation and original work that exceed those in China as well as difficulty in connecting with their American classmates. Still, the flow of students from China continues to rapidly increase, as 40,000 Chinese undergraduates are now enrolled in American colleges and universities, a figure that’s tripled in just three years.
