Education in China

Education in China is a state-run system of public education run by the Ministry of Education. All citizens must attend school for at least nine years, known as the nine-year compulsory education, which the government funds. It includes six years of primary education, starting at age six or seven, and three years of junior secondary education (middle school) for ages 12 to 15. Some provinces may have five years of primary school but four years for middle school. After middle school, there are three years of high school, which then completes the secondary education. The Ministry of Education reported a 99 percent attendance rate for primary school and 80 percent rate for both primary and middle schools. China has more university students than any other country, with 35.6 million enrolled in 2,529 higher education institutions as currently reported by the Ministry of Education. Higher education in China has played an important role in the economic construction, science progress and social development by bringing up large scale of advanced talents and experts for the construction of socialist modernization. 

Overview on the Basic Education in China

China's basic education involves pre-school, nine-year compulsory education from elementary to junior high school, standard senior high school education, special education for disabled children, and education for illiterate people. China has over 200 million elementary and high school students, who, together with pre-school children, account for one sixth of the total population. Per-capita educational expenditure for elementary and high school students has grown greatly, teaching and research equipment, books and documents being updated and renewed every year. Teaching Medium language in public basic education in China is Chinese. However, the private international schools have been established all over china.  As of January 2015, the International Schools Consultancy (ISC) listed China as having 481 international schools. ISC defines an 'international school' in the following terms "ISC includes an international school if the school delivers a curriculum to any combination of pre-school, primary or secondary students, wholly or partly in English outside an English-speaking country, or if a school in a country where English is one of the official languages, offers an English-medium curriculum other than the country’s national curriculum and is international in its orientation." Currently report show 184,073 students from 338 international schools were enrolled. Slightly more than half of the international schools are in the major expatriate areas of China: Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong Province, while other international schools are located in the fast growing cities such as Nanjing, Tianjin etc.. 

Many international schools in Beijing and Shanghai, in accordance with Chinese law, are only permitted to enroll students with foreign citizenship other than Mainland China. This is because Mainland Chinese students are required to have a certain curriculum, and schools that do not include this curriculum are not permitted to enroll Mainlanders. Mainlander children who hold foreign passports are permitted to attend these schools. Students from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan may attend international schools for foreigners. As of 2014, 19 international schools in Beijing are restricted to non-Mainlanders. There are also schools using international curricula that accept both Mainlander and non-Mainlander students. By increased international business operations resulted in an increase of foreigner children. Many of the original post-1949 international schools used International Baccalaureate and North American curricula. Many international schools in Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Chongqing and Shanghai using the British curricula had opened. Currently, many Mainland Chinese parents began sending their children to international schools which accept Mainland students to increase their children's chances of going overseas after completion of high school. Most of teachers in international schools are foreigners from USA, Australia, and European countries.

Overview on Higher Education in China

China has more university students than any other country, with 35.6 million enrolled in 2,529 higher education institutions as currently reported by the Ministry of Education. Of all the institutions, 1,202 were universities or colleges, while another 1,327 were vocational technical institutes. Its report showed how university graduates have become a major driver of urbanization in the new millennium.  China is home to roughly 20% of the world’s population. It contributes about 14% of global economic output. The size and interconnectedness of its economic activities mean that the knock-on effects are felt far and wide. But China is also a primary engine of growth for international higher education, leading the way in student recruitment, English and Chinese language programmes, transnational education and short-term study abroad. The country, therefore, is critical to the economics of global higher education and understanding the developments there will enable universes across the world to create informed institutional strategies and adapt to a rapidly shifting landscape.

A recent statistics report on foreign students in China show that a total of 397,535 international students from more than 202 countries and regions studied in 811 colleges, universities, research institutes and other education institution in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across China. Students from Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Oceania numbered 240,154; 66,746; 49,792; 34,934 and 6,009, respectively. A total of 184,799 students came to study for an academic degree, 20,405 more than in 2014; a 12.41 percent increase. The academic degree students, of whom 13.47 percent were in graduate programs, accounted for 46.47 percent of the total number of foreign students. About 40,600 foreign students, or 10.21 percent of the foreign student population, received Chinese government scholarships. The number of students receiving a scholarship increased 9.9 percent from 2014.

In April 2016, 88 Chinese universities are included in the Global 400 subjects in the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject. This makes China the country with the second most number of universities included in the Global 400 Subjects, according to the QS rankings. This is only after the United States, which has 164 universities included in the Global 400 subjects. The UK comes third at 78 universities. In these subjects include but not limited to Architecture, Engineering, Modern Languages, Materials sciences. Like in most of western universities, Earning degree in China generally takes about four years for bachelors’ degree, 2 years for masters and 3 years for Doctoral degree in Arts.  Most of universities have two intakes each year. One in September and another in March, a foreign Students can begin the course at any of those two intake