Chinese students seeking to study abroad are "likely" to enjoy a
one-stop service ranging from entrance examinations, college
applications, overseas studies and job-seeking if they plan to
return.
Shao Wei, vice-director of the Chinese Service Center for
Scholarly Exchange, said the services can really help Chinese
students, particularly at a time when the country is facing a
serious employment problem.
"Any returned students who had gained our help in studying
abroad can further obtain assistance in finding job and residence
registration in big cities," Shao told a recent discussion meeting
organized by the center’s affiliated intermediary agency, Chivast
Education International.
For those returned students, help with job-seeking is as
critical as assistance to cope with "culture shock" before they
leave, said Shao, who is also acting as president of Chivast
Education International.
Chinese students have set their eyes on a wider range of
countries for studying abroad, extending from developed countries
such as the United States, Canada and Britain, to developing
countries like South Africa.
Educational globalization and the identification of different
cultures contribute a lot to the diversification of Chinese
students' choice, said Shao.
According to Shao, with the development of China's economy,
Chinese people were willing to invest more in education, which made
it possible for more students to study abroad.
Shao said that cost was the major consideration for Chinese
people in choosing where to study. Russia and Ukraine only required
30,000 yuan (US$3,610) each year, which was suitable for ordinary
Chinese families.
Ma Yu'e, division director in charge of the center’s
international cooperation, said the Ministry of Education will
establish service standards to further discipline intermediary
agencies and get them to improve their work.
Ma, also the general manager of Chivast Education International,
did not go into detailed measures.
But she aid: "This move aims to enhance awareness of law
enforcement among the agencies and offer better services to the
public.”
The ministry's measures are designed to help self-supporting
students rationally choose overseas schools. An increasing number
of self-funding Chinese students go abroad, with nearly 70 percent
of them using intermediary agencies.
China now has 270 authorized intermediary agencies, which employ
nearly 10,000 staff.
China has sent 580,000 self-supporting and government-funded
students to study abroad since the country started to implement its
reform and opening-up policies in 1979.
(China Daily July 22, 2003)