New journey to West for college

A special Chinese tour group arrived in the United States last month. Apart from visiting attractions like the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Golden Gate bridge of San Francisco, the 40 tourists were on a house-hunting mission to pick up properties at basement prices.

Their trip, organized by a real estate firm in China, covered Boston, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles - destinations favored by the Chinese community.

Their target? To take advantage of foreclosures and acquire homes priced in the US$300,000 to US$800,000 range.

These investors are not about to settle down in the U.S. but are investing in homes for their children to stay when they eventually come to the U.S. to study.

It's not an unusual move, considering the U.S. is one of the most popular overseas education destinations for Chinese students.

Statistics show that a total of 98,510 Chinese graduate and undergraduate students were enrolled at U.S. institutions in the 2008-09 academic year. The number is a staggering 60 percent increase over that in the previous academic year.

Given the huge Chinese market, more U.S. universities and colleges, struggling with a sharp drop in funding amid the slow economy and a decline in domestic enrolment, are heading to China to woo students.

Foreign students alone contributed nearly US$18 billion to the U.S. economy last year in tuition and living expenses.

A researcher from Beijing attributed the influx of Chinese students in the U.S. to several factors.

China's strong economy, she said, had resulted in a more affluent middle class that can afford to give their children an international education.

“Most parents believe a U.S. education will give their children prestige or an advantage when they return home to seek jobs,” said the Manhattan-based researcher who completed her postgraduate studies in Boston.

“They also realize the importance of learning English and see it as the key to succeeding in the global world.”

Chinese students are not the only Asian students making a beeline to study in the U.S. Despite the world economic crisis, the number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities increased by eight percent to a new high of nearly 672,000 last year.

The increase is the largest reported since 1980-81, and marks the third year of significant growth, according to the Open Doors 2009 report released by the Institute of International Education.

An increase has been reported for foreign student enrolment from seven of the 10 leading places of origin. In terms of total numbers, India is the leading place of origin for the eighth consecutive year, up nine percent, followed by China (21 percent) and South Korea (nine percent).

Canada is the only non-Asian country in the top five (up two percent), surpassing Japan, now in fifth place with enrolment decreasing 14 percent.

The largest growth is seen in undergraduate enrolment of international students, which increased by 11 percent.

Judith A. McHale, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, is happy to see the large increase in overseas students.

“The all-time high number of international students who studied here in the 2008-09 academic year testifies to the quality and diversity for which American higher education is known around the world,” she said.

The Open Doors census is based on a survey of some 3,000 accredited U.S. institutions.

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