Moving towards a Bright Future: Chinese Students in the EU

 

As an important form of international migration, education mobility is one of the instruments for China to establish exchanges with the EU. Chinese students make up the largest group of international students in the EU, showing consistent growth. That being said, there is substantial scope to make student mobility more accessible and effective for students in order to promote mutual understanding and strengthen the overall bilateral relationship between China and the EU.

Focusing on Chinese students in the EU, this paper firstly provides an analytic description of mobility trends of Chinese students pursuing overseas education in the EU. Second, major characteristics of Chinese students’ mobility are discussed. In the third section, this paper focuses on potential economic and social benefits brought in by Chinese students. The next section aims at addressing existing challenges as well as prospects in promoting educational mobility between China and the EU, as well as retention of Chinese talent in the EU, and a discussion of its implications and a list of policy recommendations.

Jia Fu is a Junior Researcher at European Institute for Asian Studies.