Pros and cons
Nevertheless, Amoruso admitted that there were certain shortcomings to studying and living in a smaller city like Kunming.
"Many teachers can't speak English, which is usually a good thing because it forces me to speak Chinese, but when they teach us grammar, I can't understand a thing at all," said Amoruso.
She said after speaking to friends who are studying in Beijing, she had the sense that they were learning more than her in their university courses.
Amoruso also said that certain parts of daily life were difficult, such as finding a doctor that could speak English.
Cipollone said not only was she the sole foreigner in her major, but some of her classes were taught in the local Kunming dialect, which made them difficult for her to follow.
She was also given little support in working her way through complicated textbooks, all of which are entirely in Chinese.
"I have to translate the textbook into English myself. It takes me three times the amount of energy to understand things as the Chinese students," said Cipollone. "I am so exhausted."
Sam Buckner, 26, who spent a year learning Chinese at Huangshan University in Anhui Province from 2009 to 2010, said it was an ideal environment for studying, but job opportunities were scarce after he completed his course.
"It was a great place to study, because there was not many foreigners and entertainment activities going," said Buckner. "But I don't see many job opportunities there for foreigners."
Buckner now works at a real estate agency in Beijing.
"No matter how good my Chinese has become, I still need to work half in English and half in Chinese, and I need expatriate friends," said Buckner. "I don't think second-tier cities could offer me those things."
Xiong said that each situation was specific, and that in Buckner's case, the lack of employment opportunities was due to the city in which he studied, and the industry in which he was seeking work.
"Huangshan is a fourth-tier city with a population of only around 1 million residents," said Xiong, noting that the main industry there is tourism. "It's not a very international city, so it doesn't have many job opportunities for foreigners."
Slowing trend
Xiong said that there was no simple answer about whether it was better or worse to study in a smaller city in China compared to a larger one.
Rather, it is up to each student to decide where they wished to study, which is dependent on individual circumstances including the field of study, the kind of educational environment a student was looking for, and what a student wanted to do after graduation.
Of greater concern, said Xiong, was the declining rate of international student enrolments in China across the board.
From 2012 to 2013, the number of international enrolments increased by 8.6 percent, according to the China Youth Daily in March. From 2013 to 2014, the rate of growth was only 5.8 percent.
In response, the Ministry of Education is investing more money into scholarships for international students, the People's Daily reported last month. The China Scholarship Council now offers a full scholarship covering tuition fees and living expenses amounting to up to 100,000 yuan per year, and a number of smaller scholarships are also being offered through bodies like the Confucius Institute.
But Xiong said that offering scholarships alone would not be enough, and that what was needed was improvements to university infrastructure that would make studying in China a more attractive prospect.
"Universities in both big and small cities need to develop a diverse range of courses that are taught in English for foreign students," said Xiong. "They should also build more partnerships with overseas universities, so grade credits can be exchanged, which will make it easier for international students to study in China."
