Dive Brief:
- China is positioning higher education as a priority in its new five-year plan, which details a strategy to boost enrollment of international students through international partnerships, enhanced course offerings and corporate cooperatives with foreign nations.
- Greater emphasis will be placed on vocation and industrial training for domestic students in the hopes that this strategic realignment will invite private investment and development.
- The strategic plan's release comes as the Washington Post profiles the increasing number of Chinese students coming to the United States for higher education.
Dive Insight:
China may be years away from emerging as a credible threat the U.S. stronghold on attracting international students, in part, because of the nation's prowess in research and popular culture. But institutions should be more concerned with retaining doctoral earning talent here in the United States to advance education and innovation, rather than allowing students to leave and return home with intellectual capital benefiting their commerce, defense and scientific advancement.
Retaining international students could lead to significant gains in recruiting faculty from varying ethnic and national backgrounds, which recent trends suggests will be necessary to create positive experiences for students, and helping to increase educational outcomes among underrepresented groups.