Podcast: Story in the Story (3/11/2019 Mon.)
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From the People's Daily app.

And this is Story in the Story.

International students contributed $40 billion to the US economy in 2016, according to the US Department of Commerce. 

For the 2017-2018 academic year, over 360,000 Chinese students attended US colleges and universities. 

However, heading into 2019, it was revealed that new student enrollment had dropped for five consecutive years. 

Michigan State University had 500 fewer undergraduate students from China enrolling last fall semester. The school’s international undergraduate tuition fee is $40,000, which means the decline in Chinese enrollment represented a loss of $20 million.

Tuition in Europe is over $100,000 for a two-year program, while tuition and fees for a Top 20 MBA program in the US can cost upwards of $160,000.

New Zealand and Australia have been popular choices among Chinese students as it's easier for them to live in those countries after graduation. 

Now, Great Britain and Canada are emerging as preferred choices among new Chinese students.

Today’s Story in the Story looks at how Chinese college students are impacting foreign colleges and universities.

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Cambridge University. (Photo: VCG)

Britain will try to make more money from its highly respected learning sector, according to the nation's education secretary.

Damian Hinds said during the Education World Forum in London that the United Kingdom government will launch both diplomatic and commercial initiatives to attract more foreign students. It will also encourage schools and universities to set up additional overseas branches, and support UK companies working in the educational technology sector.

Hinds told delegates many countries want to learn from Britain's educational sector.

"Every year, my department receives in the region of 100 visits from overseas governments and organizations," he said. Additional foreign students at British schools, colleges, and universities would generate welcome income at a time of uncertainty around the UK's pending exit from the European Union.

"There is a real value placed on working with British institutions — schools and universities," he said while noting Brexit "should make us even more open and outward looking.”

Britain's education exports were worth $25 billion in 2015, which was 22 percent up on the 2010 total. And the nation is now the world's fourth-largest "edtech" market, which is made up of companies that produce software used by teachers and students. The United States is the segment's leader, followed by India and China.

But despite the strengths of the UK's education sector, 5 percent fewer foreign students studied in the UK during 2018 than during 2017, a fact that was blamed on Brexit uncertainties, and increased competition from Canada and Australia.

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Chinese students take part in a graduation ceremony at Columbia University in New York last year. (Photo: Xinhua)

Despite the UK being the world's second-most-popular study destination after the US, with more than a million international students, Hinds said it can learn from other nations.

"For example, to improve math teaching, we turned to China," he said at the annual gathering of education and skills ministers. "Some 12,000 of our teachers have the opportunity to watch demonstration lessons by top Shanghai teachers. Or when we set about creating a more rigorous curriculum for our schools, we drew on Singapore's curriculum and textbooks."

According to ISC Research, which provides data and intelligence on the international school market, the UK curriculum is the world's most popular and has been adopted by 3,586 international schools globally.

And the Department for International Trade said it is working with 120 UK schools that are either in the process of expanding overseas or are considering doing so.

Canada has taken measures to invite international students to the country as part of a government strategy to attract talent for job creation and economic growth. The country's efforts include quickly processing student visas and creating pathways for certain international students to remain in Canada after graduation.

Canada has seen a steady increase in international enrollment since 2014. There were nearly 500,000 international students in the country in 2017, a 17 percent year-on-year increase, according to a report by the Canadian Bureau for International Education.

Nicole Shen, from Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, said she is considering the University of Toronto in Canada for her daughter, who is attending a high school in Palo Alto, California.

Safety and a perceived anti-immigration climate are her only concerns. "Money is not a worry," Shen said. "We would rather sell property to support our child." The family has a budget of $50,000 for annual college tuition fees.

"Canada is more welcoming, and it has better immigration policies. I heard it's easier to get a work visa after graduation. And if you work for three consecutive years, you can get a green card (permanent residency)," she said.

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Lance Crayon, Brian Lowe and Da Hang. Music by: bensound.com. Text from China Daily.)