Snubbed [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

Many students in China see a degree from an overseas university as the key to a better career back home. Instead, families should start investing and encouraging reform of schools in their own communities.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Chinese students pursue degrees overseas, especially in Japan, Europe, North America, Australia, and Hong Kong. Nowadays, overseas study is even becoming popular at the undergraduate, secondary and primary school levels.

The boom in overseas study has been attributed to a negative attitude towards the Chinese education system among urban families. According to a 2008 survey of 3,555 Chinese urban residents by the Horizon Research Consultancy Group, 40 percent thought the quality of education in China was not worth the cost. In addition, only 16 percent believed investing in an education in China provided good returns.

A potentially dangerous trend is the increasing number of students who opt out of National Higher Education Entrance Exam, known as the gaokao, in order to pursue an overseas study track. In 2009, 10 percent of high-school graduates decided not sit for the exam, and the number has grown for the last three consecutive years. At the end of 2010, a record 1.27 million Chinese were studying abroad, according to the Ministry of Education.

Experts are undoubtedly worried about the "brain exodus" occurring from the Chinese education system, and how it will affect the modernization of China's schools in the long run. Students are lured away from attending Chinese schools because of the superior financial rewards that state and private enterprises in China offer for graduates of overseas schools. Also they are attracted by the prestige and increased social status that an overseas degree brings.

China is the world's biggest exporter of students. Over 15 percent of international students worldwide come from China, making the country the world's largest economic contributor to the foreign education industry.