Chinanews, Guangzhou, Mar. 28 – China is experiencing the second round of overseas study boom. The first overseas study boom occurred in 1978 when China had just started the opening-up. The second boom took place in 2006 when China was proposing to build an innovation-oriented country. From 1978 to 2000, about 1.07 million Chinese people went abroad to study, said Cao Guoxing, head of the International Department under the Ministry of Education, the Guangzhou Daily reported.
Recently, the Ministry of Education released information about Chinese students studying abroad in the year of 2006. The information shows that in 2006, a total of 134,000 Chinese people went abroad, increasing by 15,000, or 12.9 percentage points. Among them, the number of self-funded students, or students who pay their own expenses, increased by 13.4%, while the number of students sent abroad to study by the state or by their work units increased by 8.8%. In 2006, about 42,000 students returned after finishing their study, growing by 21.3% compared with 2005. Among them, the number of self-funded students increased by 22.9% while the number of government-sponsored students who returned after study increased by 15.5%.
Government-sponsored students who went abroad to study had created an overseas study boom for the second time, with the number of such students increasing from 3,000 a year in the past to 7,000 now. This indicates that a new round of overseas study boom has taken place in China. Apart from government-sponsored students, self-funded students have also played an important role in the new boom of overseas study, Cao said.