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Return to Bulletin Home - January 2009 |
Keeping Up With China
The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing provided a spectacular showcase for China on the world stage, not to mention a vivid illustration of both the continuing strength of the Chinese economy and of the country's ability to marshal its resources for the benefit of a major national project. China has also accomplished a potentially even-farther-reaching feat in recent years by achieving the most rapid and substantial expansion of higher education in modern history. From 2001 to 2006, the number of students enrolled in higher education institutions in China increased by more than 140% (from 7.5 million in 2001 to nearly 18.5 million in 2006). The Chinese Ministry of Education reported a total higher education enrolment of 25 million students in October 2007. Ministry statistics indicate that the number of new students entering Chinese universities each year had risen from approximately two million in the year 2000 to 5.4 million in 2007. These figures represent the largest domestic post-secondary enrolment anywhere in the world. The country's growing domestic education system has also made it one of the world's leading destinations for international students (in fact, the sixth-most popular destination in the world, according to a 2008 survey by the Chinese Association of Science and Technology). However, China also remains the largest source country for international students and a major driver of global market growth. The Economist recently reported that, even with the rapid expansion of its domestic education system, China's universities can accommodate less than one-fifth of the country's university-age students. For all of these reasons, the ICEF China Workshop, held every year in Beijing, has emerged as one of the largest events in ICEF's annual workshop series. In fact, the ICEF China Workshop is the largest and by far the most international student recruitment workshop of its kind in Asia, and a "must" for educator and agents active in this dynamic market.
"We attended the ICEF China Workshop to identify a small number of high quality new business partners," said Andrew Hutchinson of Prime Education, King's Group (UK). "ICEF provided an excellent forum...and we were able to achieve our objectives successfully." Duke University's Karen Courtney agreed, adding, "The connections I made will be incredibly useful." Reflecting the unique characteristics and scale of the Chinese market, the ICEF China Workshop has a dual inbound and outbound focus. In addition to one-to-one business appointments between agents and educators, the format also enables meetings between Chinese and international educators, in recognition of the many opportunities available in China for exchange programmes, twinning arrangements and other partnerships. In both 2007 and 2008, Chinese universities, including some of country's top-ranked higher education institutions, have composed the largest national group of educators at the workshop in Beijing.
The 2008 ICEF Workshop in Beijing drew 405 participants from 276 organisations and 43 countries, and saw more than 3,100 one-to-one meetings scheduled during an intensive two-day meeting schedule on October 15 and 16. "I appreciated the opportunity to meet so many agencies and educators in two days," said Jie Zhang of Tsinghua University, one of China's leading institutions. "I think that ICEF has achieved its main goal to bring us together and help us with our future cooperation. The organisation of the whole workshop is good, not only the efficient appointment scheduling system, but also the friendly staff and the comfortable hotel."
Twenty-three percent of the participants were attending their first-ever ICEF Workshop, and, reflecting China's strength in higher education, 62% of participating educators were representing university programmes. Participating agents are carefully screened and pre-selected by ICEF. Of the 231 attending agents in 2008, 40% came from China and 45% from other Asian countries and territories, with strong representation from Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam and Hong Kong in particular. On October 14, a day in advance of the main meeting schedule, participants joined in a full schedule of market intelligence seminars, including the following featured speakers.
Education fairs remain a key marketing strategy and the ICEF China Workshop was scheduled in conjunction with the 2008 China Education Expo. The annual Expo delivers large-scale exhibitions in seven Chinese cities, attracting hundreds of exhibitors and 100,000 students. The 2009 ICEF China Workshop will be held in Beijing from October 14 to 16—just prior to next year's China Education Expo so that participants can have the option of attending both events. |
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