Gabby (pseudonym) was born in China but moved to Australia in her teens, and is now on the second year of a master's program in Tsinghua.
"I came back to study in China because I feel China has more possibilities as it goes through the process of developing. And I think Western countries are now stepping into a bottleneck period, I think Eastern culture will be crucial for the world's future development," she explained.
"China is not currently the first choice of many international students, however, by offering them scholarships and lowering the admission requirements, China can attract more talents to come and study," Gabby added.
Mak (pseudonym), 21 years old, is a Malaysian student pursuing her bachelor's degree at the Renmin University of China.
When asked why she chose China, she told the Global Times "I was thinking of studying aboard after graduating from high school, China is a good place to go, and I can apply with my Malaysia Unified Examination Certificate and get scholarships, so I came."
In the 2016 academic year, Renmin University of China admitted 763 international students from over 80 countries, 352 of whom were undergraduates, according to the university's official website.
According to statistics published by the MOE, nearly 400,000 international students studied in China in 2015, and with South Korea, the US, Thailand, India and Russia supplying the most students each.
Unfairness of education
While this plan and the benefits it gives to international students has official support, it has struck as unfair many local students who have to work much harder to get into top schools.
Many have questioned the reliability and validity of Tsinghua's new application process. After relying on test scores as the ultimate assessment method for decades, Chinese students are finding it hard to approve of a more holistic application process.
A netizen using the name Rangkazhafeiafei commented on Sina Weibo "Wanna go Tsinghua and Peking universities? Please emigrate to Equatorial Guinea or Eritrea first, spending millions to get a passport from the-middle-of-nowhere, then you can go Tsinghua and Peking University without taking tests."
XieKG also complained on Weibo, "As long as you are rich and can get a Green Card, you can go directly into Tsinghua, it's even easier than getting a concert ticket."
However, those ethnic Chinese students who are targeted think differently.
Shan (pseudonym), is a Chinese Canadian student studying in Tsinghua University. Her family emigrated to Canada when she was 2 years old and moved back to China several years ago.
Though she admits that in her university, some overseas Chinese students are indeed taking advantage of these favorable policies to get into a school they could not get into in other circumstances, she said that the majority of ethnic Chinese students deserve their place in Tsinghua.
"I understand why Chinese people think it's unfair, if an ethnic Chinese student who is not even qualified for a community college but gets admitted by Tsinghua easily it is unfair, however, for those who have already got a certificate from prestigious schools in US, Canada, studying in Tsinghua is more about learning about Chinese culture and Chinese society, instead of just getting a degree from Tsinghua," Shan told the Global Times.
"Many of my friends at Tsinghua have degrees from prestigious universities in the West, an additional degree from Tsinghua or Peking University may not add a huge benefit to our job hunting or resume. Studying at a Chinese university is a way to integrate into local society better. A way for us to improve our Chinese and receive more local information," she added, while mentioning she had to turn down an offer from The University of Hong Kong and The London School of Economics and Political Science to come to Tsinghua.
Gabby also thinks it's not right to blame international students for how hard it is to get into top schools.
"The admission policy for international students has nothing to do with the fierce competition of Chinese students getting into Tsinghua, whether there are international students or not, getting admitted to Tsinghua is difficult for local students anyway," Gabby told the Global Times.
Shan's opinion is also shared by Mak, who said that only students who rank the first one or two among all international students in a grade have the chance to apply for the Chinese Government Scholarship, and the percentage of scholarship winners is "extraordinarily low."
According to a report published by the MOE this April, 40,600 of the nearly 400,000 overseas students in China received the Chinese Government Scholarship.
Worldwide dilemma
The discussion of double standards in education for local students and international students is not only limited to China.
In Japan, the increasing number of overseas students in universities has also attracted a lot of attention.
Local newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in September that top Japanese universities are now filled with Chinese students who failed in China's gaokao, and these universities are becoming a "resurrection place" for them.
With their experience of living in China and abroad, Gabby and Shan both think critically of the new admission requirements. They also mentioned that universities in US and Australia offer more lax requirements for international students in order to attract investment and benefit from international students by charging them several times more than domestic students.
"China is now opening up to the international world, it is an inevitable process," Shan added.
