Now, China a big draw for foreign students

Beijing(China)—More than a quarter-century ago, multinational companies ventured into China, not knowing what to expect but seeing the opportunities.
Now college students from around the world are here studying for the same reason. So, what’s the verdict on the Middle Kingdom? China can be “extremely foreign,” said Richard de Saivo, a senior at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. “I had never been to China before, so I had no idea what to expect,” he explained. “It turned out that the language is so foreign, the people are so foreign and virtually everything is so exotic.” De Saivo is spending the fall semester in Beijing. At the recently enlarged programme of the Chicago-based Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) in the Chinese capital, he studies Chinese for four hours every day and also takes courses in Chinese economy and history.
He and many of his young compatriots are finding the Middle Kingdom to be a new magnet. China has become a favourite Asian destination of students from the United States who study abroad. In the 2004-05 academic year, nearly 6,400 students came to China a 35 per cent increase from the year before, according to a report published last month by the New York-based Institute of International Education (IIE) with funding from the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
With such dramatic growth, China is now the eighth-leading host destination for American students and the only Asian country in the top 10, the report said. In the meantime, the number of Chinese students studying in the United States remained steady at around 62,500. Both educators and students agreed that the reported increase in the number of American students coming to China in the 2004-05 academic year is only the prelude to an even greater boom.
Michael Zhao director of the Study-in-Beijing Program of the IES, a non-profit organization that runs study-abroad programmes around the world said: “I am sure that, in two or three years, the Beijing programme will become the largest one among IES’ programmes in 15 countries by exceeding the champion, now in Barcelona.” The primary reason so many students pick China is, no doubt, its economic and social development.
“It’s simple,” de Saivo said. “There are a lot of opportunities in China, and I wanted to have a look there.” De Saivo said he became interested in China long before he arrived. He started learning Chinese as early as 14, when a Chinese language course was offered at his boarding school. He continued learning Chinese at college, although he majors in anthropology.
“I think it is important to be able to use the Chinese language,” he said. “If you want to be good at a language, it is best that you go to the place.” Chen See, a senior majoring in biochemistry at Northeastern University in Boston, also said that she came to China mainly to improve her language skills. Chen, whose parents are from China, could speak and read some Chinese before she joined the IES Beijing programme in September, but she needed to improve her writing skills.
“My skills in the Chinese language will help with my future career,” she told China Daily. “There are so many Chinese in America, and I can speak with the Chinese patients. That’s going to be cool.”

—The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item