Eighty per cent of wealthy Chinese families want their children to study abroad, according to the renowned Hurun Report. The USA is the number one destination for higher education for Chinese children, followed by the UK. Other Western countries favoured reflect the fact that the English language is a key factor for many when choosing where to send their children: Australia, Canada and New Zealand are all popular. In Europe, Switzerland and France are also on the list.
The Hurun Report is considered by many to have its finger on the pulse of what wealthy Chinese want. It was founded 15 years ago by Rupert Hoogewerf, a Luxembourg-born and English-educated student of Chinese and Japanese. His Chinese name is Hu Run, hence the title of the Report.
Statistics from the American side bear out the increasing desire for Chinese students to be educated in the US. The prestigious Institute of International Education (IIE, whose mission is to advance international education and access to education worldwide, and which runs the Fulbright Program, the US Government’s flagship international exchange programme), reckons that Chinese students now make up 31% of all international students studying in the USA.
In the academic year of 2013-2014, almost 275,000 students from China were in the US, a rise of 16.5% on the previous year. This is not only good news for Chinese families wanting a top education for their children; it’s a significant boost for the US economy, too. According to the US Department of Commerce, in 2013 Chinese students contributed an impressive $8.04bn to the country’s economy.
These figures also bear out two items of news recently posted on this blog. In September we published the results of a report which suggested that almost half of Chinese High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) plan to move abroad in the next five years (https://orcap.co.uk/chinese-hnwis-say-they-want-to-live-abroad/); and last month we wrote about research which shows not only that the majority of billionaires have higher education, but 16 of the top 20 universities where they studied are in the US (https://orcap.co.uk/education-a-key-to-wealth/).
Aside from the desire for their children to learn English, wealthy – and generally better-educated – Chinese want their children to study abroad because they value the concepts put forward in Western universities of all-round development and quality-oriented education, rather than the somewhat stilted Chinese method of learning only by rote memory. This desire is to be found among far-sighted Russians, too, who went through the straightjacket of Soviet education and are concerned by the fall in standards since the collapse of the USSR.
Another tendency being seen for Chinese students in the US is that their parents are starting to send them at an earlier age, for secondary as well as higher education. It is becoming popular to start by sending children first of all to that well-established American ritual, the summer camp. As well as giving the children an introduction to the American way of life, it helps improve their English at an early age, something which is crucial when they come to applying to university.
Of course, taking the American route to education does not come cheaply, even in secondary school (or “high school” as it termed in the US). For example, a private high school may cost around $25,000 per year, before any living costs are taken into consideration. But the Hurun Report estimates that there are 354 Chinese billionaires; and clearly many of them consider that that is money worth paying.
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