With the growing influence of China, more people may decide to study in Chinese universities or colleges. Unlike the universities in the US, most Chinese universities are not geared to admit international students, until now. Two decades ago, the majority of foreign students were language students in Chinese Language and Culture University. Very few could be seen in other programs or other universities. For example, there were 79 students in my freshman class when I was a college student in Tsinghua University, with only 1 international student from Bangladesh. He spoke almost perfect Chinese since he lived in China for his entire middle school years. In contrast, when I went to University of Pennsylvania for my PhD program, more than half were international origin.

The tide is changing now. Studying in China is getting more attractive due to the more lucrative business opportunity, greater openness of China, and higher influence of Chinese culture. According to Institute of International Education, the total number of American students who went to study in China increased to 8,830 in 2006. It is a 38.2% increment of the 2005, which saw a 35% increment of the previous year itself. The situation is similar to other countries. For example, even the King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia sponsored a program to send dozens of students to China every year. We can safely expect an explosive number of international students show up in Chinese campus.

Before you or your children put studying in China as a top option, it’s a good idea to know which university is good. I can easily recommend Tsinghua University. It’s THE top school for 12 consecutive years, according to Science of Science and Management of Science and Technology. The top 10 schools of 2007 announced at January 2008 issue are:

1. Tsinghua University

2. Beijing University

3. Zhejiang University

4. Shanghai Transportation University

5. Nanjing University

6. Fudan University

7. Chinese University of Science and Technology

8. Huazhong University of Science and Technology

9. Wuhan University

10. Xi’an Transportation University

As usual, there are many sources of school ranking and listing. For example, Netbig has a slightly different ranking released at June 2008. However, the top three are the same and most names in the top 10 list though with some difference in rank.

ChineseSession.com to learn Chinese language

ChineseSession.com/blog to Learn Chinese culture and history