University boom
Studying abroad has been a popular choice with mainland Chinese students for more than a decade. But in recent years the number of mainland Chinese enrolling in overseas universities has surged. In the UK, for example, the number of mainland Chinese university students rose from 2,500 in 1998 to 17,700 in 2002, and jumped again to 32,000 last year. This growth is set to continue: of the 870,000 overseas students forecast to be attending UK universities by 2020, at least 225,000 will be Chinese, according to the British Council.

According to the British Council, the UK accounted for 24% of the market for overseas students in English-speaking countries in 2003. Chinese students - 97% of whom are financing themselves through university - typically pay around ?10,000-?12,000 a year to study in the UK, leaving a clear profit of ?5,000 per head. This means that Chinese students alone provide British universities with more than ?300m a year. By 2020 Chinese and other non-European students will be contributing a staggering ?13bn to the UK economy.

Yet competition to lure Chinese students is growing fast from universities in Europe, and Asia itself. UK universities are therefore on a recruitment drive. Only last month, for example, a delegation representing universities and colleges in the Midlands city of Birmingham visited Guangzhou on a recruitment drive, with the aim of attracting 5,000 Chinese students to Birmingham within the next five years.

Business schools see the potential too, although the most popular are inevitably US-based. In 2004 representatives of global names such as Harvard, Thunderbird, and Wharton (all from the US) visited China to drum up business. However Jonathan Di Rollo, publisher of the China MBA Guide, the country's first such in English, believes that applicants are becoming far more discerning in their choices of programmes, which in turn is putting pressure on business schools to offer real value.

Private schools get in on the act
Mainland Chinese clearly see the advantages of higher education abroad. Yet a new trend is now emerging, as well-off Chinese families seek to equip their children with a wider education and deeper international perspective. More and more rich Chinese families are sending their teenaged children to study abroad earlier in life - often even in their early teens. Chinese teenagers are increasingly attending prestigious private schools abroad, particularly in English-speaking countries such as Britain, Australia, and the US.

The numbers are still small: of the 40,000 or more Chinese students engaged in educational activities in the UK in 2002-03, according to the British Council, only around 1,000 attended private schools. Yet this figure was almost twice the 560 recorded in 2001-02: an indication of the growing popularity of this trend. Indeed Chinese parents and mainland-based private school agencies dispute these figures, claiming that the number of high-school students currently enrolled in UK private schools is up to three times that figure. One Shanghai-based agency claims to have sent ‘well over a hundred' teenaged students to private schools in the UK.

Indeed the rapid emergence of dozens of overseas education agencies in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou is testament to the surge in interest in private schooling abroad. These agencies offer advice and practical solutions to parents seeking to place their children in top private schools abroad.

Decisions, decisions
Whatever the total figure, a significant trend is emerging. More and more Chinese parents are sending their children to attend private high schools, sixth-form colleges, and universities - predominantly in the UK.

Why the UK? "It's all about tradition," says the Chongqing-based father of a 16-year-old boy who has been attending a private school in England for the past two years. "England has a sense of history and culture which the US can't match - and personally, well, I like the place."

Parents in Beijing and Shanghai echo this view. They add that while the US (and to a lesser extent Australia) offers a more business-orientated and career-focused environment for postgraduate studies, the UK has the ‘best' schools.

"Parents want to nurture independence and creativity in their children - something which they believe the Chinese education system cannot give them."

Yet how do Chinese parents select the most suitable schools for their children? The UK alone has some 2,400 private schools, presenting a bewildering array of choice. The manager of a Shanghai-based overseas education agency claims that priorities amongst parents vary. "Some believe in giving their children the greatest possible supervision in school; others want to nurture independence and creativity in their children - something which they believe the Chinese education system cannot give them."

One Shanghai-based mother with a budget of around ?20,000 for her daughter's study has her eye on Bootham School, one of the UK's leading Quaker schools with examination results in the top ten boarding schools as ranked by The Times, a UK newspaper. She is impressed by Bootham's emphasis on care for the individual pupil combined with its lively community atmosphere. For her, protection for her daughter is every bit as important as discipline and a high quality education.

Chinese parents are well aware of the UK's most famous and prestigious schools: when asked, most name Eton, Harrow, and Winchester. Yet to date, these schools have failed to attract significant numbers of mainland Chinese students. Harrow, for example, has just two Chinese students. Instead, preferred schools mentioned by parents in Beijing and Shanghai include: Harrogate College; Wakefield College; Stockton sixth form college; and St Clare's, an Oxford college which offers a syllabus based around the International Baccalaureate. According to students at St Clare's, Chinese students have become increasingly popular since a Chinese student earned the highest grades in the entire school last year. This preference for less well-known schools over the big names is thought to stem from a strong Chinese desire to extract maximum value for money in terms of education, rather than buying into famous brands. Other possible reasons could be ignorance on the parents' side, and perhaps also an inability to get their children enrolled in the truly top schools.

Then there is the question of educational standards. "England has more advantages in education than any other country. It is a traditional and famous country in the field of education. Another important reason is that my child can practise real English more easily," says one Shanghai parent. "Of course I think the ability to use English is most important," she continues. "But I hope he can learn how to live on his own too."

UK schools respond
After a slow start private schools in the UK are tuning into the Chinese market. Some Head teachers visit the mainland up to three times a year on recruitment drives. Ann Harris, Head of Moira House Girls' School in the southern English town of Eastbourne, paid a trip to Shanghai earlier this year to promote her boarding school, which now has 25 mainland Chinese girls, mostly from Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong Province. A further 45 come from Hong Kong. The fee - ?18,000 a year - seems to be no deterrent.

Chinese students are a godsend for schools like Moira House. Although the number of pupils in the independent sector rose for a ninth successive year to 508,027 in 2003-04, according to the UK's Independent Schools Council, the vast majority of these students (438,000) are day pupils, who offer a lower profit margin than boarding pupils. The booming Chinese market represents an opportunity for boarding schools (especially smaller institutions) to bolster flagging boarding school numbers, which fell from 126,000 in 1985 to under 69,000 in 2002.

Overall the number of overseas students entering private British schools has doubled from just under 10% since 1999, to more than 15,000 out of a boarding school population of just over 70,000 pupils in 2003. Chinese students are playing an increasingly significant part in this growth. New Chinese entrants to boarding schools stood at just 200 in 1997, climbing steadily to 464 in 2001, and then surging to 965 in 2003. This year the figure could rise as high as 1,500.

Smaller boarding schools, which have been especially hard hit by falling numbers, are particularly keen to attract Chinese students, not only for the money, but because Chinese students, under pressure as the products of one-child families, tend to work hard and achieve excellent results.

Fees at 50 UK boarding schools have broken the ?20,000 a-year barrier

The drawbacks
Private education in the UK is not cheap. Fees at 50 UK boarding schools have broken the ?20,000 a-year barrier, according to the UK's Independent Schools Commission. The preferred schools named by the top dozen overseas education agencies in Shanghai have fees ranging from ?13,500 to just over ?20,000, with most around the ?18,000 mark. And there are the living costs. Vicenzo Rimo, head of International Student Recruitment at Nottingham, tells would-be students that they should budget ?15,000 a year, including fees of ?10,000. Meanwhile, education agencies in Beijing advise parents to allow at least ?6,000 for their children's living expenses in the UK.

It is not just about the money. Private school students in the UK frequently have problems adjusting to life overseas, feeling isolated and misunderstood by fellow students and teachers alike. Cultural differences contribute to the problem: Chinese pupils who are criticised in front of the class may laugh or giggle out of embarrassment, a reaction seen as by the teacher as insolence. Many staff do not yet understand the Asian concept of ‘face.' As a result the UK's Boarding Schools Association has established workshops to train staff to be more attuned to racial nuances. According to Paul High, a senior consultant with the ISC's international office who helps schools to recruit from abroad, head teachers are keen to learn more about cultural sensitivities because of the financial benefits offered by Chinese and other foreign students.

Private overseas schools, over here?
In a bid to expand their services to more Chinese consumers, international educational institutions are even making forays into mainland China itself. Regulations governing foreign schools setting up campuses and joint ventures in China have been eased over the past few years. Dulwich College has obtained licences to establish two campuses, one in Beijing and one in Shanghai, which will each offer an education from kindergarten to high school graduation for more than 700 pupils by 2006, according to the headmaster.

Meanwhile Harrow, one of Britain's most famous private schools, plans to open a branch in Beijing early next year. The school, to be operated under franchise by a Hong Kong businessman, will teach A-levels and English language. Harrow is the first private overseas school to target local Chinese rather than the expatriate community. It is also the first to hold on to local traditions such as its uniform (including the famous boater) and its school song.

Universities are also moving in. Nottingham University, the most popular UK university for Chinese students with 957 students in 2003 (compared with 102 in 2000), is building a campus in Ningbo, four hours' drive south down the coast from Shanghai. The first students will be recruited before the end of the year, with the first phase of the campus due for completion in 2008. Student fees will be around Rmb57,000 - significantly less than the Rmb165,000 fee for studying in Nottingham itself.

Send them away
These schools and universities hope to tap into the rich Chinese market on its home turf, although it remains to be seen whether this tactic will work. It is more likely that those Chinese parents who can afford to do so will continue to send their children abroad to study in the UK and elsewhere, in the belief that living overseas gives a broader perspective and understanding of foreign culture which merely being able to speak English cannot match - a decision which the Heads of private British schools will undoubtedly applaud.