Interface News Reporter | Cha Qinjun
Interface News Editor |
If there is one word to describe the study abroad market in 2023, it is full of resurrection.
As the country with the largest number of students studying abroad in the world, China is still the largest source of international students from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Italy and other countries. According to UNESCO, more than 1 million students in Chinese mainland are studying in overseas higher education institutions.
In terms of the number of applications for studying abroad in the four mainstream study destinations of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, in the 2022-2023 academic year, the number of Chinese students studying in the United States still ranks first, reaching 289526, accounting for 27.39%.
From October 2022 to September 2023, the UK issued 486107 student visas globally, a year-on-year increase of 2%. In 2023, the total number of newly approved visas for studying in Australia will increase by 41% year-on-year, exceeding the level of the same period in 2019.
"The demand for studying abroad is developing at both the young and senior levels, and the number of young students studying abroad in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada has increased significantly compared with before the epidemic. On January 7, 2024, Zhang Lei, Vice President of Kai Tak Study Abroad Division, pointed out in the "2023 Inventory and 2024 Outlook of China's Study Abroad Market".
Taking Canada as an example, the number of Chinese students studying in Canadian primary and secondary schools in 2022 increased by 23,290 compared with 2021 to 91,980, and the number of Chinese students studying in higher education increased to 148095 year-on-year in 2022.
The Australian government has also set up a Student Guardian Visa 590 for parents of young students under the age of 18, allowing parents or immediate family members to accompany them to Australia.
In recent years, due to the overall increase in the level of students, the competition for studying abroad at a young age has intensified, resulting in more and more competition for high school applications.
"Students who are now applying to higher-ranked boarding high schools have TOEFL scores of 110 or above, and SSAT scores are as high as about 95%. Guo Bei, Chief Operating Officer of Kai Tak Education, mentioned that in order to highlight their advantages, most families have begun to enter the scarce fields of sports and arts, and apply for schools through their arts and sports expertise.
At the other end of the spectrum, the number of doctoral students has increased significantly.
According to the Global demand for UK postgraduate research degrees, the number of Chinese students studying in the UK increased by 20.5% from 2020 to 2021, with about 3,800 students, ranking first among all international students.
According to the U.S. Doctoral Degree Survey, China is the largest source of doctoral students in the United States, accounting for nearly one-third of the 181446 doctoral degrees awarded to student visa holders from 2011 to 2021.
In recent years, the study abroad model of two master's degrees in the UK has become more and more popular with Chinese students. According to the survey of international students in the UK at Kai Tak, more than 30% of students hope to continue their studies for a second master's degree in the UK after graduating from graduate school.
Among the students who want to study for a second master's degree, 60.67% believe that a one-year master's degree has a time advantage, and two master's degrees in two years can obtain a higher quality academic qualification in a short time. 57.3% of the students hope to apply to a better university through the second master's degree and improve the background of the institution from which they graduated. 51.69% of students hope to increase their employability through a double master's degree.
Compared with the cost in 2019, it is not difficult to find that in addition to the increase in tuition fees, the living expenses of international students in various countries have been adjusted to varying degrees, and the living expenses are also necessary expenses that need to be borne by students. After the two-way increase in tuition fees and living expenses, the total cost of studying abroad in some destinations even exceeds 500,000 yuan/year.
In this context, the new term "cost-effective study abroad" has been repeatedly proposed, and the popularity of universities in Asian countries and regions, such as Hong Kong, Macau, and Malaysia, has been welcomed by Chinese students and parents. Most public colleges and universities in Europe, such as Germany and France, are tuition-free, especially in Germany, which has the advantage of engineering, and is sought after by many engineering students.
From the perspective of majors for international students, Chinese students are still mainly studying STEM majors, business, humanities and social sciences, which is closely related to China's scientific and technological innovation and industrial upgrading in high-end manufacturing, new energy, artificial intelligence and other industries.
STEM majors are still mainstream. According to the 2023 U.S. Open Doors Report, the top three majors for Chinese mainland students in the U.S. in the 2022/23 academic year are mathematics and computer science, engineering, business and management, accounting for 23.2%, 16.8% and 13.4% respectively.
According to HESA, the five most popular majors for full-time undergraduate students in the 2021/22 academic year are Business and Management, Medicine-related, Social Sciences, Creative Arts and Design, and Engineering and Technology, while the top five popular majors for full-time postgraduate students are Business and Management, Social Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Computing, and Education and Teaching.
According to data from the Australian Department of Education, four out of ten students from Chinese mainland studied management and business in 2022, followed by social and cultural, information technology, and engineering and related technology.
According to the statistics of the University Granting Committee of Hong Kong, China, in the 2022/23 academic year, the undergraduate majors of the eight non-local students in Hong Kong are concentrated in science, business and management, engineering and technology, accounting for 27%, 27% and 20% respectively.
With the recovery of the study abroad market, the admission requirements of prestigious universities have increased as a whole, and the standardized test scores have also risen. Wang Xiang, Director of IELTS Discipline Operations at New Oriental International Education University, publicly stated in January 2023: "The era of IELTS 7 standard has arrived. ”
The TOEFL, IELTS, and GRE scores of Chinese test takers have all improved, and the error tolerance rate has been reduced after the TOEFL GRE reform.
According to the official reports of the three major exams, the average TOEFL score of Chinese mainland students in 2022 increased by three points year-on-year to 90 points. Chinese mainland candidates ranked 29th in the IELTS Academic test, up four places from 2021, with an average overall score of 6.1, up 0.13 points year-on-year. Candidates from Chinese mainland who took the GRE test in 2022-2032 have improved their language scores and mathematics scores.
From July 26, 2023, the duration of the TOEFL test will be shortened from three hours to two hours, the number of questions will be reduced, the test question type will also be changed, and the writing section will be changed from independent writing to academic discussion writing. The overall writing style of academic discussion writing is close to the more formal spoken language in an academic setting.
The new version of the GRE test will be officially launched in September 2023, and the total test duration will be shortened from less than four hours to two hours, and the ten-minute break and all unscored additional test questions will be eliminated. The reduction in the number of questions and the shortening of the test time is good news for candidates, but it will also lead to a decrease in the error tolerance rate and an increase in the score of each question.
Many colleges and universities have continued the "standardized test optional" policy during the epidemic. According to data released by FairTest in June 2023, the number of universities that do not require applicants to submit standardized tests in the 2022-2023 application season exceeds 1,900. The percentage of standardized test scores submitted in the Common App has decreased from 74% in 2019 to 43% in 2023.
"As a result of the above policy, median SAT scores have increased at all Ivy League schools. Among them, the admission data of Penn increased from 1490 points to 1530 points. Guo Bei suggested that as a proof of strength in the application, the standardized test should be planned and prepared earlier, and a high score will be more advantageous.
Looking forward to 2024, Guo Bei believes that the number of applications in the United States will continue to grow steadily, "one person applying for multiple schools" has become the mainstream, and students pay more attention to cost-effectiveness when choosing schools.
According to the Common App's 2023-2024 early application data, the total number of freshmen who submitted early applications in the United States reached 836679, an increase of 11.9% year-on-year and a 41% increase from the 2019-2020 application season before the epidemic. The number of applications to U.S. colleges per capita increased from 3.42 in Fall 2020 to 4.01 this year, an increase of 17%.
The data also shows that the number of early applicants to public universities has skyrocketed by 82% this year, and although the number of early applicants to private universities has also increased by 47%, the number of applications is much lower than that of public universities. The public is paying more attention to the "value for money" of schools, and more and more people are choosing public universities with lower tuition fees but top quality education.
In 2024, the Asian graduate market will continue to maintain high heat and attention, and at the same time, the competition for admission to prestigious universities will become more and more fierce.
In terms of destination market size, Hong Kong and Macao, China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia are still the regions/countries with the highest absolute value.
In Guo Bei's view, the growth of the study abroad market in Hong Kong and Macao comes from the opening of new majors and the completion of campuses in the mainland, while Japan and South Korea are more benefiting from the rapid recovery of the original stock market after the epidemic, Singapore is becoming more and more attractive to high-net-worth families and top students, and Malaysia is benefiting from the expansion policy of public institutions.
Prestigious Asian universities also show a stronger trend of multi-dimensional evaluation in terms of admissions. With the continuous improvement of Asian universities in various university rankings, the favor of Asian universities is also increasing day by day for outstanding students who aim for prestigious universities. Depending on the major, the weight of the student's academic resume that reflects his or her professional ability in all aspects and the Xi resume that reflects his or her future career plan is also increasing at the admission stage.
China's lead as the largest source of students is shrinking. In particular, in the 2022-23 academic year, the total number of Chinese students in the United States fell slightly by 0.2% year-on-year, and there are currently 289526 Chinese students in the United States, while Indian students in the United States increased by 35% year-on-year, the fastest growing country, reaching 268923, and the two major source countries account for more than half of the total number of international students in the United States, reaching 53%.