At the end of 2021, QS released its “How the coronavirus pandemic reshaped international higher education” following a survey of more than 115,000 international students from 194 countries.
These data show that in the post-epidemic era, after comprehensively considering employment, postgraduate entrance examination, and studying abroad, more and more students began to choose a rational study abroad. The popularity of studying abroad has rebounded significantly.
The latest research report, “2021 National Study Abroad Report,” released at the 2021 China International Education Summit, also shows that more than 90% of the students willing to study abroad insist on their study abroad plans.
From the perspective of the whole of 2020-2021, the most common method adopted by prospective international students to change their study abroad plans is to plan to delay their enrolment and postpone their study abroad plans to next year. Only a small proportion of students choose “I don’t want to study abroad anymore”, which shows that the student group still has a firm idea of studying abroad.
Although most students insist on studying abroad, more students have changed their choice of overseas destinations. The report shows that the United Kingdom and the United States are still the two most popular countries for Chinese students to study abroad. In early 2021, 51% of prospective international students believed that the United States was unpopular because it’s Covid-19 controll. Although this proportion has declined, the overall trend has not changed. At the beginning of 2021, 20% of respondents believed that the UK was more popular with students, but this figure rose to 35% in September-October.
2021 is also a year of intensive introduction of various private education policies in China. At the same time, international education has also entered a new stage of standardized development.
Zhou Mansheng, Executive Deputy Director of the Academic Committee of the Chinese Society for Educational Development Strategies, believed that “safe study abroad + successful study abroad” should be regarded as the dual of studying abroad at the Sina & Weibo 2021 China Education Ceremony-International Education Summit. Because studying abroad involves international relations, there is a particular uncertainty in studying in China and the United States. Therefore, Chinese students can consider studying in relatively safe countries like the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Canada.
It can be seen that the market for studying abroad in the UK will be further expanded. Based on the statistics of UCAS in 2021, in the “first round” university application data in 2022, the number of Chinese applications increased by 5% compared with the same period last year, and 4,570 students went to British universities to submit applications for 2022 admission, once again setting a record. Various colleges and universities in the UK should note that Chinese students are now pouring into the UK study market with an unprecedented tendency. Although the UK has always experienced repeated episodes in epidemic control, the vaccine rate has reached 50% in July 2021. Better epidemic prevention results and more friendly entry policies have made the UK begin to regain the popularity of international students in the second half of the year.
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