Education and Training
China
Overview
As China continues to integrate into the global economy, Chinese enterprises need to recruit graduates with internationally recognized standards of education and maintain professional training for their employees to stay competitive. Since the United States’ educational system has a solid reputation in China, U.S. colleges, universities, and other deliverers of training services are in a strong position to fulfill China’s training needs. Short-term training programs or workshops in specialized fields or business education are particularly sought after. U.S. educational organizations can also sell teaching materials and equipment, convey the latest methodologies and case studies, lend or exchange faculty, and provide educational consulting services.
Best Products/Services
According to some market surveys, Chinese consumers revealed that they would spend 10 percent of their savings on education, meaning that the education market from a consumer perspective is worth at least 80 billion U.S. dollars. In cities with populations of 10 million or more, at least five percent of families could and would pay for education costing more than 14,500 U.S. dollars. The Chinese government also plans to increase spending on education dramatically, from its current budget allocation of 2.5 percent of gross domestic product to 4 percent, to meet China’s education needs for the new century. The national education budget allocation reached 50.8 billion U.S. dollars in the year 2004. More and more middle-class Chinese are borrowing to send their only child abroad to receive an international degree that would give them an advantage in China’s increasingly competitive marketplace. Chinese professionals are also attending vocational classes and using e-learning to upgrade their skills to increase their earning power.
The Chinese government has made it a national priority since 1999 to increase the number of students in the university system. In 2005, there were 23 million students studying at colleges and universities. The National university entrance rate reached 21%. China’s 1,552 colleges and universities enrolled 15 million students for bachelor degrees, and over 900,000 students for master degrees. The country’s 475 adult higher learning institutions, for those who did not enter college, enrolled more than 1.4 million students to teach skills in the agricultural, industrial, educational, medical, health, financial, and public security sectors. According to China’s Ministry of Education, more will be done within the next few years to develop vocational and adult education programs, serve regional economic and social development, and promote on-the-job and re-employment training programs.
American universities are very active in promoting American education in China. As of April 2004, the Ministry of Education has approved 137 joint programs with foreign institutions. The United States is the destination of choice for Chinese who want to enroll in an MBA program. However, high costs, long absences from home, and visa concerns make it comparatively more difficult to study in the U.S. Presently, the U.S. leads the market in providing joint venture MBA and EMBA programs in China, but competition from European, Canadian, and Australian organizations is increasing.
Many experts believe that e-learning is ideal for China because it solves much of China’s education needs. With its limited education resources, China can use long distance learning to educate its 200 million elementary and high school students. To that end, in October 2000 China’s Ministry of Education launched the “All Schools Connected” project, which will equip all of China’s 550,871 K-12 schools with e-learning systems by 2010. The Ministry has also encouraged 67 top universities to offer e-learning degrees to produce more talent for the country’s burgeoning economy. The nation’s very best high schools can also create Internet schools to train teachers and tutor students in far-flung regions. Private companies have also heeded the e-learning call; many now offer vocational training and certification exam preparation online.
The export opportunities for U.S. firms in China’s e-learning market include K-12 content, Ministry staff training, and foreign certification training.
Opportunities
Corporate Training Programs
Business Training Programs
MBA
EMBA
Olympic English Training
E-learning Content provider
Resources
Education Events Approved by China’s Ministry of Education
Event Information:
1.China International Education Exhibition (CIEET) Tour 2007
Sponsored by Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE)
Beijing March 3-4
Chongqing March 6-7
Shanghai March 10-11
Nanjing March 13-14
Guangzhou March 17-18
Website: www.cscse.edu.cn
Address: No. 15 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China 100083
Tel: (8610) 8230-1019， 8230-1006
Fax: (8610) 8230-1166
Email: wjjin@cscse.edu.cn chancy@cscse.edu.cn
2. 2007 China Education Expo
Sponsored by China Education Association for International Exchange (CCIEE)
Beijing October 20-21
Shanghai October 27-28
Guangzhou November3-4
Website: http://www.chinaeducationexpo.com/
Address: 4th Floor, Xinlong Office Building, No.33-A Erlong Road, Beijing, China 100032
Tel: (8610)6606-6076; 6603-3016
Fax: (8610)6606-6870
Email: zhourong@cciee.com.cn zhaopeng@cciee.com.cn
FCS China Education Team:
Beijing Office:
Tel: (86-10)8529-6655
Fax: (86-10)8529-6558/9
David Gossack
Maggie Qiu
Shanghai Office:
Tel: (86-21)6279-7930
Fax: (86-21)6279-7639
Yu-Chien Chen
Guangzhou Office:
Tel: (86-20)8667-4011
Fax: (86-20)8666-6409
Robert Murphy
Eileen Bai
Chengdu Office:
Tel: (86-28)8558-3992
Fax: (86-28)8558-3991
Misha Cao
Shenyang Office:
Tel: (86-24)2322-1198
Fax: (86-24)2322-2206
Soching Tsai
Liu Yang