Chinese universities are recruiting ever more foreign students as they seek to improve their positions on the list of world's top schools. However, favorable policies for overseas recruits have garnered rising complaints from local students.
For Chinese students, getting through the ultra-competitive application process to gain admission to top schools like Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University is more than just difficult. It requires students to not only achieve top scores in their high school curriculums but also to have a healthy dose of luck when taking the annual college entrance exam, the feared gaokao.
Described by the BBC as "China's toughest test," the gaokao is the only way for the majority of Chinese students to get into college.
In 2016 alone, nearly 9.4 million students took the gaokao, according to the Ministry of Education (MOE), however, China's top five universities only took in around 23,000 new students, with Tsinghua admitting just 3,000.
International students have a much easier and less competitive path into China's top universities, a situation which has frustrated some in China who believe that Chinese students with foreign nationality are getting an unfair advantage.
Green light for international students
On September 27, Tsinghua's online application system for international students formally opened for those looking to start a course in 2017. Unlike in previous years, applicants will not have to take an academic writing test this year.
According to this year's admission requirements, prospective undergraduate students who hold a foreign passport can apply for Tsinghua without taking any standardized written tests, reported the Beijing Youth Daily on October 8.
Tsinghua's new application process simply involves submitting the relevant documents and having an interview.
However, even previously, the tests for international students did not provide as much of a barrier to entry as the gaokao.
Kevin Wen, an ethnically Chinese student born in the US who has long been attending school in Beijing shared his experience on Q&A website Zhihu this June, writing "Personally, I think Tsinghua's test for science students is not difficult, apart from the last question, the math test doesn't require much thinking."
Another test taker named Ban Shiqin, who has a similar background to Kevin, concluded on another Zhihu post that the written tests for international students in China's top universities are quite easy.
"In general, anyone in our school can get good scores in these tests. As ethnic Chinese, we are taking advantage of the tests. And more importantly, the test is much less competitive than the gaokao," Ban said.
Liu Zhen, the Dean of the Admission Office told Beijing Youth Daily the further relaxation of entry requirements and a focus on interviews rather than tests is an attempt to make applying to Tsinghua more similar to applying to other top international schools.
As part of the government's drive to attract more students from overseas to come to China, apart from the easier application process, international students can simultaneously apply for multiple scholarships, including a Chinese Government Scholarship and Beijing Government Scholarship.
Strategically promoting China
In recent years, China has been working hard to increase its "soft power" and enhance its international influence.
Apart from actively joining global groups like the G20 and AIIB to expand economic clout, the UN Climate Change Conference to have a greater say in environmental protection as well as multiple forums for maintaining regional stability, China has also been busy exporting its culture and education.
Officially published by the China Scholarship Council in December 2015, the Chinese Government Scholarship for an undergraduate provides a minimum of 59,200 yuan ($8,743) per year, which can cover all the spending of a student, including tuition fees, medical insurance, living expenses and accommodation fees.
Programs like the Confucius Institute and the rising numbers of scholarships targeting international students have already helped boost Chinese colleges' reputation.
In the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings published in September, Tsinghua's overall ranking has rocketed from 47 to 35, second in China only to Peking University, and ahead of many prestigious Western universities like the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and King's College London.
Cooperation with other countries has also helped Tsinghua boost its reputation internationally. For example, the recently established Schwarzman Scholars, co-founded by Tsinghua and the founder of financial firm the Blackstone Group Stephen Schwarzman, attracted over 100 world famous scholars to Tsinghua in 2016, raising its world reputation rank to 18 in this year's Times Rankings.
Due to favorable policies toward international students, and the rising status of Chinese universities in many ranking lists, the number of overseas students in China has grown steadily in recent years.
