Course in 'cannibalism' a steep learning curve

Children at an English class at a training institute in Wenling, Zhejiang province. Provided to China Daily

Overhaul urgently needed for chaotic private education market.

When Zhang Yusi began looking for an English-language course in preparation for study overseas, she felt overwhelmed by the huge number of advertisements for numerous service providers, who trumpeted their strengths in the media and on street billboards.

After some deliberation, the 24-year-old graduate student at Beijing's Central Academy of Drama opted for big-name establishments, but was then deterred by the high tuition fees for several months of intensive study.

The large number of unflattering comments on the Internet, posted by former students who regretted having been taken in by ads and promotions, also gave her cause for concern.

So, after weeks of bargaining, Zhang was surprised to learn that Wall Street English, one of China's best-known language-training schools, was offering a yearlong course at a nonrefundable, promotional price of 25,000 yuan ($4,100), far lower than the company's usual 40,000 yuan fee.

Welcome to the chaotic, but highly lucrative, world of China's private education industry.

Industry insiders estimate that at least 100,000 private educational and training institutes are operating in China.

The real number may be much higher, because many providers have registered with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce as education consultancies.

Theoretically, these consultancies are not allowed to provide education or training because they don't satisfy the strict rules laid down by the Ministry of Education.

In reality, the rules haven't stopped unauthorized players from entering the industry, whose market value rose to 960 billion yuan in 2012 from 760 billion yuan in 2010, according to a blue paper published jointly by the 21st Century Education Research Institute and the Social Science Academic Press under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It further estimated that the market will surpass 1 trillion yuan this year.

As the market has become increasingly crowded, the industry has been plagued by a raft of problems, including promotions and ads that misrepresent the educational backgrounds and teaching strengths of faculty members, exorbitant prices, courses and schedules that are changed without prior notice, and illegal operations.

The China Consumers' Association upheld 3,698 complaints about the private education industry in 2012, a rise of more than 8 percent from 2011.

However, there is no suggestion that any of the schools named in this story have engaged in underhand or illegal practices.

One extreme case illustrates the chaos in the education and training industry. In May, a man drowned while attending a "death-training course". In his quest to conquer a number of unspecified "fears", the man allowed instructors to repeatedly hold his head underwater for varying periods of time, with unforeseen, but fatal, results.

The unfortunate student had paid 30,000 yuan for the three-day course, according to the Southern Daily, which reported that the three "instructors" were secondary school graduates who had no appropriate qualifications, but had already overseen more than 20 similar courses in Guangzhou.