Page 416 - 2018 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
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8 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
a fifth of all book sales nationwide. Mari Pearlaman at number of engineering students has been particularly
ETS, an American company that developed the TOEFL explosive as part of the government’s push to develop
language placement test, estimates that in 2005 China a technical workforce which can drive innovation. But
already contained 50,000 private language schools, overall student numbers have increased in all subjects.
ranging from small family-run businesses to large New universities have sprung up and student enrollment
chains like New Oriental, with 2.5 million students as numbers have rocketed (Stapleton).
of a decade ago. By 2013, that number had grown to
over 300 million English students in China (about the The factors behind this explosive growth are
size of the entire U.S. population), accounting for one diverse, and include the demands of a growing middle
fourth of Mainland Chinese residents. The value of the class, economic expansion, and government policies
English-training market in China is now about $4.5 that explicitly seek to bolster participation in higher
billion and some analysts predict that the market will education. In terms of enrollment rates, those policies
continue to grow at a rate of 12-15 percent over the have been broadly successful, but critics charge that
course of the next few years. Studies estimate that at a focus on the country’s most prestigious institutions,
least 100,000 English teachers are currently needed in led by Peking University and Tsinghua University, has
China, and this number should slightly increase over created an imbalance in quality. Well-known initiatives
the next few years. To attract more teachers, Chinese such as Project 211 and Project 985, for example,
schools have begun to raise salaries, offer more benefits have allocated billions of dollars to a limited number
and follow government regulations to lure teachers of top-tier public schools in an effort to increase their
away from other popular countries like Japan and South international standing and support research output.
Korea. In the past few years, thousands of instructors Many of the country’s best and most generously funded
have left their jobs in these countries to come to universities are in Beijing, Shanghai, and the great cities
China. While ESL schools were first established to teach of eastern China, and all of them are public. However,
English to adults, in the last decade the demand has China has seen exponential growth in the number of
shifted to parents who are willing to spend up to half private institutions of higher education since the 1980s,
of their household income on language classes for their when laws governing the sector began to be relaxed.
children. Many private academies are taking note of this China has come to see private institutions as a key
transition, offering more specialized classes for children. mechanism for addressing the scale of demand. The
For example, English First’s Shenzhen school used to 2002 Law on the Promotion of Privately Run Schools,
contain primarily adults, however now more than 70 for example, states explicitly that private educational
percent of their students are children. Still, a command institutions are integral to the invigoration “of the
of the English language is a major contributing factor country through science, technology and education”.
to finding a job in China’s slowing economy, and In the fifteen years leading up to 2014, the number of
China’s increasingly global business market demands private higher education institutions in operation rose
employees who are fluent in English (Gamlam). from 39 to 727. Recent enrollments have declined for
some schools, not least because internationalization has
College heightened competition for qualified students. China
sends more students abroad than any other country
A record-breaking 8 million students graduated in the world. Around 460,000 Chinese nationals were
from Chinese universities in 2017. This figure is nearly enrolled at foreign educational institutions in 2014, a
ten times higher than it was in 1997 and is more than rise of 11 percent over the previous year. The U.S. is a
double the number of students who will graduate this major destination for these students claiming 304,040
year in the U.S.. Just two decades ago, higher education of these students in the 2014/15 school year (Michael).
in China was a rare privilege enjoyed by a small group
of urban elites. Everything changed in 1999 when the In 2017 there will be a million more new graduates
government launched a program to massively expand than there were in 2013. And yet, the graduate
university attendance. In that year alone, university unemployment rate has remained relatively stable.
admissions increased by nearly 50 percent. This average Only 8 percent of students who graduated in 2015
annual growth rate persisted for the next 15 years, were unemployed six months after graduating.
creating the largest influx of university-educated Unemployment rates, however, mask the more subtle
workers into the labor market in history. Growth in the issue of underemployment. While most graduates
416
a fifth of all book sales nationwide. Mari Pearlaman at number of engineering students has been particularly
ETS, an American company that developed the TOEFL explosive as part of the government’s push to develop
language placement test, estimates that in 2005 China a technical workforce which can drive innovation. But
already contained 50,000 private language schools, overall student numbers have increased in all subjects.
ranging from small family-run businesses to large New universities have sprung up and student enrollment
chains like New Oriental, with 2.5 million students as numbers have rocketed (Stapleton).
of a decade ago. By 2013, that number had grown to
over 300 million English students in China (about the The factors behind this explosive growth are
size of the entire U.S. population), accounting for one diverse, and include the demands of a growing middle
fourth of Mainland Chinese residents. The value of the class, economic expansion, and government policies
English-training market in China is now about $4.5 that explicitly seek to bolster participation in higher
billion and some analysts predict that the market will education. In terms of enrollment rates, those policies
continue to grow at a rate of 12-15 percent over the have been broadly successful, but critics charge that
course of the next few years. Studies estimate that at a focus on the country’s most prestigious institutions,
least 100,000 English teachers are currently needed in led by Peking University and Tsinghua University, has
China, and this number should slightly increase over created an imbalance in quality. Well-known initiatives
the next few years. To attract more teachers, Chinese such as Project 211 and Project 985, for example,
schools have begun to raise salaries, offer more benefits have allocated billions of dollars to a limited number
and follow government regulations to lure teachers of top-tier public schools in an effort to increase their
away from other popular countries like Japan and South international standing and support research output.
Korea. In the past few years, thousands of instructors Many of the country’s best and most generously funded
have left their jobs in these countries to come to universities are in Beijing, Shanghai, and the great cities
China. While ESL schools were first established to teach of eastern China, and all of them are public. However,
English to adults, in the last decade the demand has China has seen exponential growth in the number of
shifted to parents who are willing to spend up to half private institutions of higher education since the 1980s,
of their household income on language classes for their when laws governing the sector began to be relaxed.
children. Many private academies are taking note of this China has come to see private institutions as a key
transition, offering more specialized classes for children. mechanism for addressing the scale of demand. The
For example, English First’s Shenzhen school used to 2002 Law on the Promotion of Privately Run Schools,
contain primarily adults, however now more than 70 for example, states explicitly that private educational
percent of their students are children. Still, a command institutions are integral to the invigoration “of the
of the English language is a major contributing factor country through science, technology and education”.
to finding a job in China’s slowing economy, and In the fifteen years leading up to 2014, the number of
China’s increasingly global business market demands private higher education institutions in operation rose
employees who are fluent in English (Gamlam). from 39 to 727. Recent enrollments have declined for
some schools, not least because internationalization has
College heightened competition for qualified students. China
sends more students abroad than any other country
A record-breaking 8 million students graduated in the world. Around 460,000 Chinese nationals were
from Chinese universities in 2017. This figure is nearly enrolled at foreign educational institutions in 2014, a
ten times higher than it was in 1997 and is more than rise of 11 percent over the previous year. The U.S. is a
double the number of students who will graduate this major destination for these students claiming 304,040
year in the U.S.. Just two decades ago, higher education of these students in the 2014/15 school year (Michael).
in China was a rare privilege enjoyed by a small group
of urban elites. Everything changed in 1999 when the In 2017 there will be a million more new graduates
government launched a program to massively expand than there were in 2013. And yet, the graduate
university attendance. In that year alone, university unemployment rate has remained relatively stable.
admissions increased by nearly 50 percent. This average Only 8 percent of students who graduated in 2015
annual growth rate persisted for the next 15 years, were unemployed six months after graduating.
creating the largest influx of university-educated Unemployment rates, however, mask the more subtle
workers into the labor market in history. Growth in the issue of underemployment. While most graduates
416
