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Chinese students look toward the West
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Shanghai students and their parents seem to be bitten by the foreign education bug. And overseas schools, determined to cash in on the frenzy, are making a beeline for the many education exhibitions in the city.

At least 20 schools, universities and art colleges from the United States participated in an exhibition held at Shanghai Multimedia Life Square in Changning District over the weekend.

Last week, two prestigious institutions from Australia -- the University of Sydney and University of Melbourne -- made special trips to Shanghai to pitch their courses. All the exhibitions enjoyed a heavy turnout of students and parents.

"The economic crisis has made it difficult for many American families to afford the high cost of private education," said Todd De Regnaucourt, admissions director of Florida Air Academy, which is a private high school that offers flying courses to its students.

Faced with a crunch at home, US schools are now looking to China's mainland market. The yuan's appreciation has made it slightly cheaper for Chinese students to study abroad. Also, modern Chinese parents do not mind spending lavishly on the education of their only child, professionals at the exhibition said.

"There seems to be a frenzy here to go abroad for studies," said Xu Jing, a representative of Kent State University's China Office.

The Ohio, US-based university, which has a history of 98 years, launched its China Center in July to help local students with admissions. Xu said the university set up a similar office in Taiwan a decade ago.

Competition to get into foreign schools has risen dramatically, so has the demand for scholarships. But many visitors to the exhibition were disappointed to find US schools providing fewer scholarships.

"Scholarships offered by US schools were planned a year ago, so there may not be any changes now. But it may go down next year," said Kiki Wang of American Education Services.

Participants said economics and management studies are the most popular choices. After the US, Australian universities are a hot favorite.

But some students and parents were worried that the present economic crisis may make it difficult for them to find jobs in the US.

"I am worried that the crisis in the US won't end when I finish my studies in another two years," said a student surnamed Fu.

The presence of foreign art schools at the exhibitions this time was also unusual. These, however, don't have too many takers because of high fees and fewer scholarships.

"Chinese parents do not think highly of art schools and believe their children will have no future," said Carin Wu, who is representing the the Academy of Art University in the United States.

(Shanghai Daily October 20, 2008)

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