647164

research-article2016
JSIXXX10.1177/1028315316647164Journal of Studies in International EducationDing

Article
Journal of Studies in International Education
2016, Vol. 20(4) 319­–338
Exploring the Experiences © 2016 European Association for
International Education
of International Students Reprints and permissions:
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in China DOI: 10.1177/1028315316647164
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Xiaojiong Ding1

Abstract
In recent years, China has grown from an insignificant player to a major destination
in the global market for international students. Based on a questionnaire survey
and in-depth interviews conducted in 2013, this study uses Shanghai as an example
to examine international students’ experiences in China. It is found that China has
become a niche market for international students due to the distinctiveness of the
Chinese language and the country’s continuous economic growth. However, the
considerably and consistently low levels of international students’ satisfaction with
their study and living experiences show that China has not paid sufficient attention
to improving its supply of higher education and other support services, which may
threaten its sustainable growth in the international student market.

Keywords
international students, internationalization of higher education, study abroad, integration
between international and local students, higher education in China

Introduction
The international mobility of students has a long history. However, it was not until the
21st century that the number of international students worldwide began to rapidly
increase. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development
(OECD), the total number of students enrolled outside their country of citizenship
soared from 2.1 million in 2000 to 4.3 million in 2011 (OECD, 2013a).

1Research Institute for International and Comparative Education, Shanghai Normal University, China

Corresponding Author:
Xiaojiong Ding, Shanghai Normal University, 100 Guilin Road, Shanghai 200234, China.
Email: dingxiaojiong@hotmail.com
320 Journal of Studies in International Education 20(4)

Figure 1. Number of international students enrolled in universities in China.

Source. Data were retrieved from the website of the China Association for International Education,
http://www.cafsa.org.cn.

With the rising number of students who cross national borders for educational pur-
poses, the so-called “international student market” has received growing attention. In
addition to countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, which have
traditionally attracted a large share of international students, new competitors such as
Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan have adopted aggressive national strategies to trans-
form themselves from sending countries to receiving countries in terms of interna-
tional enrollment.1
China began to receive international students in 1950, when it enrolled 33 students
from East European socialist countries. From 1950 to 1978, when China adopted
reform and opening policies, the country provided higher education to 128,000 inter-
national students, most of whom came from socialist and developing countries (Lei,
2014). Since then, international enrollment in China has consistently risen. In 2014,
international enrollment reached a high of nearly 380,000 (Figure 1), nearly tripling
the total number of international students enrolled between 1950 and 1978.2 As Zhao
(2011) argues, in the global market for international students, China has quickly
“grown from an insignificant player to a major destination.” International students in
China come from more than 200 countries across the world. In contrast to the period
from 1950 to 1978, when holders of the Chinese Government Scholarship constituted
the majority of the international student population, holders of this scholarship cur-
rently account for only 9.8% of the population (Ministry of Education [MOE], 2015).
Recently, China has clearly and loudly announced its ambition to boost interna-
tional enrollment. The National Medium and Long-Term Educational Reform and
Development Plan (2010-2020) published in 2010 by the State Council of China noted
Ding 321

that the number of international students in China should be further increased. Later in
2010, the MOE (2010) issued the Program for Study in China, which set the target of
attracting 500,000 international students and becoming the largest study destination in
Asia by 2020.
Will China reach the above aspiration while being surrounded by so many tradi-
tional and new competitors in the market for international students? One argument is
that international students who are satisfied with their study and living experience
abroad are more likely than other international students to recommend their destina-
tion country to their friends in their home countries (see Bourke, 2000). Therefore, the
key to establishing China as an important study destination is to ensure that current
international students in China have a high, or at least reasonable, degree of satisfac-
tion with the academic and living services that they receive from their higher educa-
tional institutions (HEIs).
This research aims to answer the following questions. How do international stu-
dents feel about studying and living in China? Are they satisfied with their experiences
in China? Are they willing to recommend China as a study destination to others? The
article begins with a review of national and global surveys of international students. It
then explains the data collection methods and the research findings. Finally, it ends
with some concluding remarks.

An Overview of Surveys of International Students

National and Global Surveys of International Students in Other
Countries
National surveys of international students did not emerge until the number of these stu-
dents proliferated and the international competition for such students intensified. The
main purpose of these surveys is to understand international students’ experiences of
studying and living in their destination countries so that policy recommendations may be
proposed to improve the countries’ attractiveness as a study destination. In some coun-
tries, such surveys have been conducted regularly to allow longitudinal analysis.
Germany may have been the first country to survey international students. In 1951,
Germany began to poll German students on a triennial basis. The 15th survey, which
was conducted in 1997, was the first to include international students as respondents.
Since the 17th survey, conducted in 2003, separate questionnaires have been devel-
oped for German and international students. The questionnaire distributed among
international students mainly addresses topics such as their demographic characteris-
tics, courses of study, living situations, monthly incomes, and opinions on Germany as
a place of study (Federal Ministry of Education and Research, 2008). The most recent
report on the 19th survey, which was published in 2011, presents information collected
from 1,553 international students (Federal Ministry of Education and Research, 2011).
International student surveys in the United Kingdom were performed by various
nongovernmental organizations, including the U.K. Council for International Student
Affairs (UKCISA), the British Council, and other representative bodies of higher
322 Journal of Studies in International Education 20(4)

education. In the case of the UKCISA survey, with data collected from more than
6,000 international students, a series of reports titled Broadening Our Horizons have
been published to describe international students’ experiences in the United Kingdom
(UKCISA, 2008).
Similar national surveys were initiated in New Zealand in 2002, when a sample of
international students was asked about their personal backgrounds, their degrees of
satisfaction with New Zealand’s education provision, and their relationships with local
students. Then, in 2003 and 2007, the MOE in New Zealand commissioned Deloitte,
an independent company, to investigate the education and pastoral support provided to
international students. In addition to asking students about their demographic charac-
teristics, the surveys asked the students to report their academic performance; their
degrees of satisfaction with educational, pastoral, and support services; their experi-
ences of working while studying; and their plans after graduation (Deloitte, 2008).
In Australia, national surveys on international students began in 2005, when the
Australian government commissioned the independent Ipsos Australia Pty Ltd. to
assess the satisfaction of international students studying in the country. The survey
attracted 14,946 respondents. Two years later, in 2007, a follow-up survey targeting
international graduates who had completed their studies in Australia was performed.
The follow-up survey attempted to determine whether the respondents had changed
their opinions of studying and living in Australia since graduation. A total of 2,150
students completed the questionnaire (Australian Education International, 2008).
In recent years, although some countries have continued their regular national sur-
veys of international students, countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand,
and Australia have chosen to commission surveys to an independent research com-
pany, the International Graduate Insight Group (i-graduate). Established in 2005 and
headquartered in the United Kingdom, i-graduate has built offices and operations
worldwide. The web-based surveys that it has developed for international students are
used by more than 885 educational institutions in 30 countries and cover a range of
areas involving the experiences of international students (detailed information about
i-graduate can be found at http://www.i-graduate.org). These regularly implemented
global surveys not only permit time-series studies on changes in international students’
experiences but also provide international benchmarks of the education and support
services offered to international students.
Of note, the respondents of the aforementioned surveys, whether national or global,
are not randomly selected. International students are invited to participate in the sur-
veys on a voluntary basis, and not all students complete and submit their responses.
Reports on the surveys generally do not show the response rate or the representative-
ness of the respondents. Therefore, the results of the surveys should be read and inter-
preted with caution.

Main Findings of the Surveys in Other Countries

In general, the results of the aforementioned national and global surveys are positive and
show that international students report high levels of satisfaction with all types of
Ding 323

services. Consequently, a high percentage of students are willing to recommend their

destination country and current HEI as places to study. For example, in the United
Kingdom, 87% of international students are satisfied or very satisfied with their pro-
grams in general, and more than 80% of the students are satisfied or very satisfied with
support services such as the introduction to the campus and the city, student registration,
and orientation (U.K. Higher Education International Unit, 2010). In Australia, 88% of
international students report being satisfied with their living experience, and 86% report
being satisfied with their study experience (Australian Education International, 2013). In
New Zealand, 88% of international students rate their HEI highly, and 78% would
encourage others to apply to their current HEI (Generosa, Molano, Stokes, & Schulze,
2013). Globally, the i-graduate survey conducted in 2009 identified that 86% of interna-
tional students were satisfied with their studies (Australian Education International,
2010) and that international students reported high degrees of satisfaction with all kinds
of support services (IGI Services, 2011).
Despite the positive findings mentioned above, all of the surveys identify areas in
need of improvement. This is particularly true in comparison with international bench-
marks. For example, the Australian survey conducted in 2012 discovered that interna-
tional students’ levels of satisfaction with health insurance and Internet access were
well below the bars set by the i-graduate surveys (Australian Education International,
2013). In New Zealand, more than 40% of international students are particularly dis-
satisfied with the cost of living and the availability of financial support (Generosa
et al., 2013).
Most surveys of international students also investigate the factors that influence
students’ choices of study destinations. These surveys have consistently found that the
most important factor is the quality of education. For example, in the 2012 survey of
international students in Australia, four of the top five factors that informed interna-
tional students’ decisions to study there were directly related to the quality of educa-
tion. The top five factors were the quality of teaching (96%), the reputation of the
qualifications obtained from the institution (94%), the reputation of the institution
(93%), personal safety (92%), and the reputation of the Australian education system
(92%; Australian Education International, 2013). Similarly, a survey conducted by
i-graduate showed that the factors mentioned above, with the exception of personal
safety, were the most important factors in students’ international study destination
decisions (Australian Education International, 2010).
Few surveys analyze the factors that influence international students’ overall
levels of satisfaction. However, the 2011 survey conducted in New Zealand used
ordered logistic regression to identify these factors. The authors argue that although
the quality of education is of great importance in determining international stu-
dents’ overall satisfaction, “living and support service experiences should not be
ignored. These areas also influenced the overall student experience. They are thus
potential improvement areas that could be leveraged in order to raise student satis-
faction levels” (Generosa et al., 2013, p. 11). The above argument reminds us that
to maintain sustainable growth in international enrollments, students’ overall expe-
riences should be improved.
324 Journal of Studies in International Education 20(4)

International Student Surveys in China

China has not implemented a national survey to study the experiences of international
students enrolled in its HEIs. Two studies by individual researchers applied interna-
tional student surveys utilized in other countries to examine the experiences and satis-
faction of international students in China. Questionnaires were distributed in Shanghai
and Beijing, the two cities with the highest numbers of international enrollments in
China. Both studies found international students’ levels of satisfaction in terms of
study, administration, and living services to be consistently and markedly lower than
those of students in other countries and international benchmarks (Ding, 2010; Wen,
Chen, Bai, & Cao, 2013). For example, Ding’s survey in Shanghai shows that in terms
of quality of teaching, only 32.3% of international students feel satisfied or very satis-
fied, and 25.0% are unsatisfied or very unsatisfied. In Beijing, Wen and her colleagues
find that although a relatively high percentage of international students (77%) report
being satisfied or very satisfied with their accommodations, the figure is considerably
lower than the international benchmark (86%; Wen et al., 2013). Because the two sur-
veys were conducted by individual researchers due to their personal interest, data were
collected from only a few universities. In Shanghai, only four universities participated
in the survey, and in Beijing, the data were collected from five universities.
This study reflects the first effort by a local educational authority in China to inves-
tigate international students’ experiences and satisfaction. With the support of the
Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, the government agency in charge of edu-
cation in Shanghai, the study generated information from 28 of the 34 universities that
are permitted to receive international students. Of the five universities that did not
participate in the study, one university expressed its unwillingness to be part of the
study, and the other four had such a small number of international enrollments (i.e.,
from one to a few dozen) that they were purposefully excluded from the sample due to
limited research funding.

Research Methods
This study was conducted in Shanghai in 2013. It used a mixture of quantitative and
qualitative research methods. Although a questionnaire-based survey was the study’s
primary tool, in-depth interviews were also conducted.
The international students who were interviewed were selected and grouped purpose-
fully into four categories: newly arrived students, final-year students, students with lim-
ited Chinese and English language skills, and international student representatives.
Altogether, 40 international students from 22 countries enrolled in 13 HEIs participated
in the interviews. Although the number of interviewees was not large compared with the
heterogeneity of the international student population in Shanghai, the depth of the inter-
views compensated for the limited coverage of the interviewees to some extent. The
interviewed students studied various programs at different levels. Some were enrolled in
nondegree courses, and others pursued a bachelor’s or postgraduate degree. Their fields
of study included law, medicine, philosophy, engineering, sociology, finance, kinetics,
Ding 325

international relations, and the Chinese language. The interviews lasted from 120 to 150
min and were recorded with the permission of the interviewees. The interviews were
later transcribed word for word. During the interviews, the students provided informa-
tion about their reasons for selecting Shanghai as a place of study, their experiences of
studying and living in Shanghai, difficulties encountered during their stays in Shanghai,
and suggestions for how to improve international students’ experiences. This informa-
tion not only aided in the design of the questionnaire but also uncovered detailed stories
and views underlying the data collected from the survey.
Based on the interviews and international student surveys implemented in other
countries, a questionnaire draft was developed. The draft was sent to international
student administrators in 28 HEIs in Shanghai to get their opinions about the question-
naire, and the questionnaire was revised accordingly. After a pilot test of the revised
questionnaire was completed by 11 international students from four HEIs, the final
version of the questionnaire was established.
The final version of the questionnaire is composed of six parts. Part 1 collects infor-
mation about students’ backgrounds, such as nationality, age, main field of study, and
qualification pursued. Part 2 asks about the students’ experiences prior to coming to
Shanghai, such as their reasons for selecting Shanghai as a place of study. Part 3 con-
centrates on students’ feelings about their initial arrivals in Shanghai. Parts 4 and 5
examine the students’ study and living experiences, respectively. The last part contains
open-ended questions about the aspects of studying and living in Shanghai that the
students do and do not like and their policy recommendations.
The questionnaires were distributed in four languages—Chinese, English, Korean,
and Japanese—because Korea and Japan are the countries that send the most international
students to Shanghai. The samples were selected according to the distribution of different
types of international students in each HEI, including degree of study (e.g., nondegree
Chinese language students, undergraduate students, and postgraduate students), main
field of study, nationality, and source of funding (e.g., holders of scholarships offered by
the Chinese or Shanghai government and self-financing students). A total of 2,552 poten-
tial respondents were selected, and 1,993 questionnaires were ultimately completed by
international students from 26 HEIs; 1,892 of the questionnaires were considered valid.
International students from 121 countries submitted valid questionnaires. Of the
respondents, 54.1% were female. The majority of the respondents (74.4%) were
between 18 and 25 years old, 13.3% were between 31 and 39 years old, and 1.3% and
11.1% were under 18 and over 39, respectively. More than 65% of the respondents
came from Asia, reflecting the fact that more than half of Shanghai’s international
students are of Asian origin (Figure 2). Literature (including Chinese language stud-
ies) was the single most popular field of study (51.8%) among the survey respondents,
which is consistent with the fact that more than 60% of the international students in
Shanghai are literature majors (Figure 3). An imbalance between the survey sample
and the wider population was found in regard to program levels. Whereas students
pursuing bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees awarded by universities in
Shanghai accounted for 38.4%, 9.4%, and 3.0% of the sample (Figure 4), respectively,
the corresponding percentages for the wider population were 20.0%, 7.7%, and 1.8%.
326 Journal of Studies in International Education 20(4)

Figure 2. Distribution of international students in Shanghai by region of origin.

Figure 3. Distribution of international students in Shanghai by field of study.

Some of the characteristics of the sample did not perfectly match the population of
international students in Shanghai. However, this study, with its relatively large number
of respondents from various HEIs, provides a vivid picture of international students in
Shanghai and, to a certain degree, a snapshot of international students in China.
Ding 327

Figure 4. Distribution of international respondents in Shanghai by program level.

Main Findings
Why Did International Students Select Shanghai as a Place of Study?
When asked whether China or Shanghai was their first choice of study destination,
76.7% said “yes” with respect to China. Among those who said “yes” with respect to
China, 82.2% further confirmed Shanghai as their first choice of study destination.
Therefore, among the international students enrolled in Shanghai’s HEIs, 63.0%
selected Shanghai as their first choice of study destination.
Figure 5 illustrates the importance of different factors for international students’
choice of Shanghai as a place of study. The figure shows that the most important factor
influencing students’ decisions to study in Shanghai was learning the Chinese lan-
guage. In addition, Shanghai’s status as an international city and the rapid economic
development in China were the second and fourth most important factors, respectively.
Along with the growth of China’s economic power, other countries have demonstrated
an increasingly urgent demand to know more about China. As one of the most eco-
nomically developed financial centers in China, Shanghai is well suited to interna-
tional students who wish to observe contemporary changes in China’s economy and
culture and to build business relationships that are beneficial to their future careers.
Below are two excerpts from interviews with international students:

Recently, China has been developing quickly in economic terms, so I think that by
coming to China to study, I could gain more opportunities in the future. Many Colombians
328 Journal of Studies in International Education 20(4)

Figure 5. Importance of the factors considered when selecting Shanghai as a study

destination.

don’t speak Chinese; many of them don’t speak English, either. If I learn to speak Chinese
and am very good at English, I would most likely gain more opportunities. I chose
Shanghai because it is an open city and because it is similar to Western cities, so I could
easily settle down. I plan to pursue a career in international business between North
America and China in the future. (Chinese language undergraduate from Colombia)

Studying in China is my dream because the relationship between Russia and China has
been developing very quickly, particularly in terms of business. I think that such
development definitely requires high-level experts in languages, particularly experts who
also have a good command of finance and economics. (Student from Russia taking a
nondegree, short-term Chinese language course)

Factors related to the quality of education, such as “high-quality universities” and

“programs and courses that you want to learn,” were identified as important by less than
70% of the international students. Given that international students enrolled in other
countries choose their study destinations primarily on the basis of education quality,
Ding 329

this finding indicates that higher education in Shanghai has not earned a reputation that
is sufficiently attractive to international students. Furthermore, it indicates that the dis-
tinctiveness of the Chinese language has contributed to building China into a niche
market for international students. It can be expected that as long as China maintains its
attraction as a business player, the language factor will help the country further increase
its international enrollment.

Were International Students Satisfied With Their Study Experiences in

Shanghai?
Among the survey respondents, 75.0% were taught in Chinese, 17.4% were taught in
English, and 7.5% were taught either in both languages or in other languages. All of
the HEIs in Shanghai offer Chinese language courses for international students,
although such courses may not be compulsory for students studying in English or in
other languages.
Approximately 60% of the international students expressed satisfaction with the
overall quality of Chinese language learning. The degree of satisfaction with the over-
all quality of learning concerning the main field of study was much lower than that for
Chinese language learning, and only half of the students felt satisfied or very satisfied.
This result is quite different from those in other major receiving countries, where 80%
of international students were satisfied with their studies (Australian Education
International, 2013; Generosa et al., 2013).
When the general quality of teaching was divided into different aspects, the data
showed that international students were most satisfied with their teachers’ proficiency
in the Chinese language, expertise, and commitment in the case of teaching in the
Chinese language and were least satisfied with class size, teaching methods, teaching
materials, and opportunities for one-on-one interactions with teachers (Figure 6). In
the case of teaching in the main field of study, for all aspects, the percentage of stu-
dents who were satisfied was below 70% and sometimes even below 40% (Figure 7).
For example, regarding teaching methods, international students criticized the
teachers in Shanghai for spending excessive time on lecturing and memorizing and
giving little attention to stimulating students’ motivation for learning.

I’ve become used to the teaching methods employed by Chinese teachers. However, I
don’t like these methods; I think they are too traditional. Chinese teachers don’t allow the
students to talk. If I talk, they would look at me unhappily. The teachers keep on talking,
and the students keep silent. This may work for students from Japan and Korea, but not
for me, a Dutch. The Netherlands is a very open country; we would feel that courses
taught in this way were very boring and very dull. (Student from the Netherlands taking
a nondegree Chinese language course)

The students preferred more opportunities for group discussion and studies and more
participation in classroom activities so that they could apply the knowledge learned to
practical problems.
330 Journal of Studies in International Education 20(4)

Figure 6. Satisfaction with different aspects of teaching in the Chinese language.

Figure 7. Satisfaction with different aspects of teaching in the main field of study.
Ding 331

In the Moscow University of Finance and Economics, we have a business Chinese course.
We simulate situations in which business Chinese is used. For example, in simulated
business negotiations, we invite managers of Russian companies or Russian companies
residing in China to be our referees. . . . I hope that HEIs in China provide similar courses
to allow us to practice Chinese . . . We are learning Chinese. However, the Chinese
language used in practice is different from that written in the textbook . . . How can we
achieve a high level of Chinese proficiency if we only learn Chinese by reading books?
(Student from Russia taking a nondegree, short-term Chinese language course)

The students also gave the course content low ratings. They often felt that the
courses were “meaningless” or “kind of boring” because the content of the courses
was out-of-date and disconnected from daily life. One student criticized his or her
computer course in the questionnaire, as follows:

We are in 2013 A.D. However, in the computer course, we are still taught to use software
that has already become obsolete, such as Microsoft Office 2003. This is sometimes hard
for us to accept, and we feel such courses give us little help. I understand that it’s not easy
to revise the curriculum, and I have no intention to offend, but it is rather wide off the
mark to use the same software as 10 years ago.

The obsolescence of course content was particularly true for Chinese language learn-
ing when the students complained that the Chinese words that they learned were so
outmoded (e.g., “sentry post”) that they were unable to use these words to communi-
cate with local people. They wrote the following kinds of comments in the question-
naire: “I don’t understand why international students are learning Chinese words that
Chinese people don’t actually use” and “The Chinese language that international stu-
dents are learning is totally different from the Chinese language that Chinese people
actually use, so I can’t successfully communicate with Chinese people.”
As shown in Figure 5, learning the Chinese language was the top factor that attracted
international students to Shanghai. However, when asked whether they agreed with
the statement “I am satisfied with my progress in the Chinese language,” only 54.0%
of the students provided positive responses. For the statement “I am satisfied with my
progress in the main field of my studies,” the percentage of the students who indicated
agreement decreased to 41.6%.
Further evidence indicates international students’ dissatisfaction with the education
that they received in Shanghai. Less than half of the students (48.3%) agreed that
“Studying at this university is worth the price that I have paid.” Only 30.4% indicated
that studying in Shanghai would help them find a job in the future. The statement “In
comparison, universities in my home country offer a more enhanced teaching quality”
obtained agreement from 36.6% of the students.

How Did International Students Feel About the Support Services When
They First Arrived in Shanghai?
Providing support services to newly arrived international students has been a priority
on the agendas of governments and HEIs in other countries. Because newly arrived
332 Journal of Studies in International Education 20(4)

Figure 8. Satisfaction with services for newly arrived international students.

students are typically far from their homes and, therefore, are unable to seek family
support, they rely more on HEIs to adapt to their new environments (UKCISA, 2010).
HEIs in other countries have therefore organized a variety of support services that are
quite popular among international students, such as airport pick-up, orientation, meet-
ings with instructors, and advice on finding a place to rent (Australian Education
International, 2010; IGI Services, 2011; U.K. Higher Education International Unit,
2010).
The situation in Shanghai has proven to be considerably different. None of the sup-
port services for newly arrived international students received satisfaction ratings that
were comparable with those reported for other countries (Figure 8). More than 30% of
the students did not receive services such as airport pick-up, opening a bank account,
and finding a place to rent, which means that new international students in Shanghai
received limited support from HEIs compared with international benchmarks.
Airport pick-up received the lowest degree of satisfaction and was least used by
international students. Quite a few students recalled that when they first arrived in
Shanghai, they had to locate their HEI independently. Sometimes, the confirmation of
enrollment, which included the address of the HEI, was provided in English and was,
thus, difficult for taxi drivers to understand. Sometimes, the students, who were unfa-
miliar with transportation in Shanghai, took unlicensed taxis and were forced to pay
excessive fares.

When I first arrived in Shanghai, I didn’t know that registered taxis were lined on the first
floor, and the second floor was filled with unregistered taxis. The driver of the unregistered
taxi took me to Jin Jiang Park, told me this was the place that I was supposed to be, and
Ding 333

charged me RMB220. . . . This was my first time to Shanghai. It was really dangerous.
(Doctoral candidate from Thailand studying the Chinese language)

If an international student doesn’t speak Chinese at all and he or she only speaks English,
how could he or she communicate with a taxi driver? Moreover, each university has
several campuses. What if the driver sends the student to the wrong campus? This would
be very dangerous. (Doctoral candidate from Vietnam studying food)

Although a few HEIs meet their international students at the airport, such meetings are
not always well organized. As some students indicated in the questionnaire, the HEIs
occasionally forget to meet their newly arrived students at the airport, even when the
student has registered for the pick-up service.

To What Extent Did International Students Integrate With Local

Students?
Research in other countries has consistently found that international students antici-
pate integration with local students, and most international students perceive local
students as friendly (Australian Education International, 2008; UKCISA, 2010).
However, a large proportion of international students report encountering difficulties
when interacting with local students (see for example,Generosa et al., 2013), which is
also the case in Shanghai. Although 62.4% of the international respondents in Shanghai
agreed that communicating and connecting with local students was an important part
of university life, 37.8% admitted that they had problems making friends with locals.
In Shanghai, international and local students are basically two separate groups that
do not interact well. Two factors contribute to this separation. First, although China
has been heavily investing in developing courses and programs taught in English,
Chinese is currently the primary language of instruction. As mentioned, 75.0% of the
respondents studied in the Chinese language. Because 75.1% of the students had poor
mastery of the Chinese language before they came to China, 55.1% were taught in
classes organized exclusively for international students, in which teachers use easy
words, speak at a slow pace, and sometimes explain content in English to facilitate
students’ understanding of course content. Although such an arrangement may be ped-
agogically beneficial to the students, the students complained about not having oppor-
tunities to get to know their Chinese counterparts.
Second, in addition to separate coursework, international and Chinese students are
assigned separate accommodations. Sixty-eight percent of the respondents lived in
dorms built specifically for them,3 and Chinese students were concentrated in their
own dorm buildings. This separation mainly resulted from the differences in living
standards between international and Chinese students. Dorms for international stu-
dents were equipped with air conditioners, private bathrooms, and sometimes private
showers and refrigerators, and only one or two students occupied each room. In con-
trast, in the dorms for Chinese students, four or more students resided in each room,
which had only basic furniture, such as beds and tables.
334 Journal of Studies in International Education 20(4)

International students appreciated the better living conditions that the university
offered but questioned whether this arrangement further limited their chances of mak-
ing friends with Chinese students. The dorm buildings for international students were
quite often far from central areas of university activity, which increased international
students’ difficulty in contacting their Chinese counterparts, as described in the fol-
lowing interview excerpts:

I don’t know if this is true for other universities. In my opinion, the biggest problem is
that at our university, international students live in the international student apartments,
which cater exclusively to international students. This makes us live far away from
Chinese students. We can’t communicate with them . . . Our university is huge. We have
the north expansion, the south expansion, and the central area. All of the Chinese
undergraduates are concentrated in the south expansion, and we are in the north expansion.
The south and north expansions happen to be located at the two extremes of the campus.
They are far away from each other. So I can’t study, communicate or hang out with
Chinese students every day . . . They are too far away from us. (Undergraduate from
Hungary studying tourism management)

When we come here, we feel like we are in other countries because in our dorms, we are
surrounded by international students from all over the world. We speak English more
often than we speak Chinese. Sometimes, we only speak Chinese when we are taking
Chinese language courses. We usually use English or our mother tongue to communicate
with each other. (Master’s degree candidate from Chad studying management science
and engineering)

Occasionally, international and Chinese students were situated on two different cam-
puses and seldom had a chance to meet each other.
Moreover, the survey result indicated that Chinese students were not friendly to
international students; only 48.4% of the respondents in Shanghai felt that Chinese
students were friendly toward them. As one respondent wrote in the questionnaire, “In
my class, there are 15 Chinese students. Only two of them communicate with us. The
others never talk to us; they don’t even bother to say ‘hello.’” Chinese students were
thought to be reluctant to spend time with international students because they were
accustomed to being surrounded by foreigners from all over the world and were under
great pressure to study and find jobs.

I had studied in An Hui Province before I came to Shanghai. An Hui was not a developed
province, and our university was far away from downtown. So, Chinese students there
were very happy to know that a foreigner was studying at their university; they were
willing to be friends with us . . . However, Shanghai, as a big city, receives foreigners of
various kinds . . . Chinese students are not willing to take the initiative to communicate
with us because they have other things that are more important to do. (Doctoral candidate
in sociology from Thailand)

I haven’t gotten to know many Chinese friends during my study at the university. This
may be because we and Chinese students have different routines. They are always
Ding 335

studying and they are diligent; we like to have fun. We and the Chinese students have
different cultures. Our life is easier, and they are under greater pressure. (Student from the
Netherlands taking a nondegree Chinese language course)

Would International Students Recommend Shanghai and China as

Study Destinations?
The above sections show that international students in Shanghai have relatively low
levels of satisfaction with their study programs, support services, and integration with
local students. As a result, fewer international students in Shanghai (67.1%) rated their
overall experience of studying and living in Shanghai positively compared with their
counterparts in the United Kingdom (81%), Australia (85%), New Zealand (88%), and
the international benchmark (86%; Australian Education International, 2013; Generosa
et al., 2013; UKCISA, 2011), and relatively few international students in Shanghai were
willing to recommend studying in China. Although China was the first study destination
choice for nearly 80% of international students, only 59.2% indicated that they would
recommend China as a place of study to their co-nationals. This finding suggests that a
considerable number of international students change their opinions, not necessarily in a
positive way, about China as a study destination after their arrival in the country.
A slightly higher percentage of international students (61.8%) stated that they
would recommend Shanghai as a study destination. This figure is roughly equivalent
to the percentage of international students who selected Shanghai as their first choice
of study destination. As shown in Figure 5, the second most important reason for inter-
national students to study in Shanghai was the city’s international nature. Shanghai’s
high-quality infrastructure and facilities, the availability of all types of commodities
from all over the world, and rich and colorful activities,such as international exposi-
tions and forums, impress international students. Among the 1,343 respondents who
wrote about the best aspects of studying and living in Shanghai in the questionnaire,
27.7% mentioned that Shanghai is an international city.

Conclusion
Since receiving 33 international students from East European socialist countries in
1950, China has quickly grown into a major destination for students from other coun-
tries. Recently, China has clearly and loudly expressed its ambition to compete with
other traditional and new receiving countries in terms of international enrollment by
setting a goal of attracting 500,000 foreign students to study in China by 2020.
Although increasing the number of international students has been prioritized on the
Chinese government’s agenda, little attention has been paid to the students’ experi-
ences in China. Whereas governments in other countries have formulated aggressive
policies to improve the overall quality of services provided to international students,
China has largely remained silent in this regard and has chosen to focus on strategies
that can quickly increase international enrollment in the short term, such as increasing
the supply of government scholarships.4
336 Journal of Studies in International Education 20(4)

This research shows that China, with its rapidly growing economic strength, has
received an increasing number of international students. To a large extent, the recent
continuous and rapid rise in international enrollment can be explained by the language
and economic factors that help China build a niche market for student mobility. Most
of the international students want to learn the Chinese language and to observe the
country’s economic development process. It can be predicted that the number of inter-
national students in China will continue to rise over the next few years if the country
maintains its momentum of economic growth.
However, growth in the international student population does not indicate that stu-
dents are satisfied with the academic and support services that they receive nor that
they are willing to recommend China as a place of study. The current research findings
show that the degrees of satisfaction of international students in China in regard to the
quality of education and other services are consistently and significantly below inter-
national benchmarks. A slightly higher percentage of international students were will-
ing to recommend Shanghai as a study destination, despite the problems that they
encountered during their stays in the city. This was mainly due to the international
nature of the city, which considerably enhanced the students’ living experiences.
However, not all provinces in China enjoy the same level of internationalization as
Shanghai, and the sustainable growth of international enrollment in China could
become questionable.
To compete with other major study destinations and to provide international stu-
dents with a positive experience, China needs to learn from other major study destina-
tions and formulate comprehensive policies to improve the services provided to
international students.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.

Notes
1. For example, in 2008, the Japanese government issued the 300,000 International Students
Plan, which set the goal of enrolling 300,000 international students by 2020. To reach this
goal, the government announced systematic measures to improve international students’
experiences from before their arrivals in Japan to their job searches following graduation
(Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2009).
2. However, Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) statistics
show a different picture: In 2011, China’s global market share of international students
was only 1.8%, a percentage far below those of traditional competitors, such as the United
States (16.5%) and the United Kingdom (13.0%), and new competitors in Asia, such as
Japan (3.5%; OECD, 2013a). According to the OECD, China only enrolled approximately
Ding 337

77,000 international students in 2011, whereas the corresponding figure published by the
Chinese government was 292,611 (see Figure 1). The marked discrepancy between the
figures published by the OECD and those published by the Chinese Ministry of Education
(MOE) is due to these institutions’ different definitions of “international students.” For the
OECD, “[i]nternational students are those who have crossed borders for the purpose of
study” (OECD, 2013b). China counts all foreign students who come to China to study as
well as those who come to experience Chinese culture as “international students,” although
the latter generally stay in China for only 1 month, 1 week, or even several days.
3. The other 32% rented private apartments off campus.
4. In the 2003-2014 period, the number of holders of Chinese government scholarships
increased fivefold from 6,153 to 36,943 (MOE, 2015).

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Author Biography
Xiaojiong Ding is professor at the Research Institute for International and Comparative
Education, Shanghai Normal University. Her work focuses on internationalization of higher
education, particularly on cross-border education and experiences of overseas students in China.