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As August approaches, the autumn recruitment of international schools in China is coming to an end, and the application for studying abroad in foreign schools has also ushered in a peak consultation season. Recently, Beijing Business Daily reporters learned from the international school autumn recruitment consultation meeting and several educational institutions that, judging from the consultation situation this year, the proportion of consultations on studying abroad at a young age is increasing, and the age of students planning to study abroad has moved from the second year of high school to the third year of junior high school. The proportion of consultations on undergraduate study abroad has also increased from about 20% to 40%. At the same time, in terms of the choice of destination and institution, institutions in the United Kingdom and the United States are still the first choice for most prospective international students. As tuition fees at some overseas institutions increase, more and more prospective international students have begun to pay attention to the cost-effectiveness of studying abroad and the choice of majors.

Advance to the third grade

As the overseas school application season and the new semester in September are approaching, the autumn recruitment consultation sessions for international schools in Beijing continue to be hot. A Beijing Business Daily reporter saw that at a consultation session held in Beijing a few days ago, there were constant streams of parents and students coming to consult at the booths of leading brands in the industry, such as New Channel, Beijing Aidi School, and Qingmiao School.

Beijing Business Daily reporters learned at the scene that this year, some domestic international schools have expanded their enrollment scale, and the age group of students who come for consultation is relatively young. In addition to middle school students, some primary school students also appeared at the consultation site, and were led by their parents to learn about the latest trends in studying abroad and international schools.

It is understood that according to the schedule, overseas institutions open applications around October, which is also the peak application season for the overseas study industry. The preparation period for prospective overseas students is usually 2-3 months in advance, which means that many prospective overseas students have entered the preparation stage for studying abroad since August.

Fan Jinxiu, rotating director of New Channel Future Study Beijing, told Beijing Business Daily that judging from the consultations this year, the trend of younger students going abroad is becoming more and more obvious. For example, students who intend to study abroad at the undergraduate level usually started planning to study abroad in their second year of high school in the past few years, but in the past two years, this time point has been brought forward to the third year of junior high school.

According to Fan Jinxiu, the proportion of undergraduate students seeking overseas study consultations has now surpassed that of postgraduate students. Overall, undergraduate overseas study consultations previously accounted for only 20%-30% of the total consultations, but this year the proportion has reached 40%.

The "Report on the Development of Chinese Students Studying Abroad" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by New Oriental this year shows that in the past decade, the number of people who intend to study abroad in my country is mainly undergraduate students, but there has been a trend of developing to younger ages. In 2024, the number of people who intend to study abroad at the high school level rebounded for the first time in nearly four years. The customer service data of Qide Education also shows that from 2021 to the present, the number of undergraduate study abroad consultations has been increasing year by year.

Studying in the UK and US continues to gain popularity

Looking at the overall changes in the trend of studying abroad, in addition to the younger age, people who intend to study abroad have also made certain adjustments in choosing schools. In terms of choosing study abroad destinations, the United States and the United Kingdom are still popular options. Institutional data shows that in the higher education stage, the top three countries for the number of Chinese mainland students are the United States (289,526), ​​the United Kingdom (158,335) and Australia (140,111).

The New Oriental report also shows that the United States and the United Kingdom are the most popular choices for studying abroad in the decade from 2015 to 2024. In the past five years, the United Kingdom has replaced the United States as the most popular country for people who intend to study abroad, thanks to its shorter school system and relatively stable political environment.

At the same time, school rankings are also one of the key factors that people who intend to study abroad focus on when choosing a school. With the changes in the overall environment, more students will also take post-graduation employment rates and tuition fees into consideration when choosing a school.

In Fan Jinxiu's opinion, among the young students studying abroad, parents and students pay attention not only to the destination of study abroad, but also to the ranking of the school, safety, major and whether it is easy to graduate. As the information gap between domestic and foreign study abroad narrows, parents and students have become more comprehensive in their focus when choosing a school.

It is worth noting that, with the increasingly close educational exchanges at home and abroad, the paths for domestic students to study abroad have become more diverse, and institutions in some countries and regions have begun to recognize domestic college entrance examination scores. Jia Hongyan, general manager of Qide Education Beijing International Trade Center, said that domestic college entrance examination scores have been recognized by more and more overseas institutions and can be used to directly apply for undergraduate courses. At present, the UK is the study abroad destination with the highest recognition of Chinese college entrance examination scores. More than 40 British universities, including Cambridge University and Durham University, have recognized Chinese college entrance examination scores.

The average budget for studying abroad is over 500,000 yuan

It cannot be ignored that with the changes in tuition fees of overseas institutions in recent years, tuition fees have also become an important factor affecting the choice of schools for prospective international students. Jia Hongyan shared a set of tuition data with the Beijing Business Daily reporter. At present, the tuition fees in popular study abroad countries such as the United States (250,000-450,000 yuan/year), the United Kingdom (100,000-300,000 yuan/year), Canada (100,000-300,000 yuan/year), and Australia (150,000-250,000 yuan/year) are relatively high. Tuition fees in Asia are relatively low. For example, the annual tuition fees of public universities in Japan are about 35,000 yuan, and private universities are about 50,000-80,000 yuan.

Talking about the tuition fees of overseas universities, Fan Jinxiu said that in recent years, the tuition fees of some overseas universities have continued to rise. Take the UK as an example. In the early years, the annual tuition and living expenses in the UK were about 400,000 yuan. However, judging from the rising trend of tuition fees, the overall annual expenditure budget of international students going to the UK now needs to be raised to about 500,000-550,000 yuan.

Data shows that in 2024, the average study abroad budget of Chinese families intending to study abroad is 528,000 yuan, which is higher than in 2023.

As tuition fees for studying abroad rise, the cost-effectiveness of studying abroad has become one of the considerations for prospective international students. At present, in addition to the UK being favored by students due to its short school system, more international students are beginning to pay attention to studying in Australia and New Zealand, where tuition fees are not among the most expensive, even though the QS World University Rankings have risen. A relevant person in charge of New Oriental Future Study Abroad said in an interview that for students, as the ranking of colleges and universities rises, more students from non-key colleges and universities are more inclined to choose to apply to Australian and New Zealand colleges and universities. After the rankings of some non-"Australian Eight" colleges and universities rose, they also ushered in new growth with high cost-effectiveness.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Zhao Boyu/text and photo