Shanghai universities look abroad to keep talent at home

Shanghai universities want to keep more talented university students at home by offering them opportunities to receive a foreign education in the city, local university administrators said at an education forum last weekend, reports Lu Chen for Shanghai Daily.

The number of Chinese students who went abroad to study grew 23% year-on-year in 2011, raising concerns that China is losing more and more of its most talented students, said Lu Fang, vice president of Fudan University. Moreover, local universities are facing growing competition from overseas educational institutions to attract top Chinese students.

Of those students who intended to pursue a higher education abroad, 73% wanted to go to the US, according to a survey of 250 students from 47 middle schools across the city. The survey findings were released at the forum. However, about 20% of respondents were willing to attend institutions such as New York University Shanghai, whose campus in the Lujiazui financial zone in Pudong New Area is now under construction.
Full report on the People’s Daily Online site