Report: 90% of Chinese overseas students not giving up study abroad

More than 90 percent of Chinese overseas students have not given up their study plans abroad despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report showed.

Ninety-one percent of prospective Chinese overseas students said they still plan to study abroad while 92 percent of existing overseas students plan to return to their schools abroad in the near future, according to the annual Report on Chinese Students' Overseas Study, released on Thursday.

The report found that 79 percent of Chinese overseas students stayed in China due to the pandemic and traveling restrictions, with 54 percent taking online courses and 25 percent taking a gap year. Only 15 percent of Chinese overseas students stayed abroad.

The pandemic has brought new problems to the students, including inconvenience in social life (27 percent), language ability (24 percent), learning effect (23 percent) and physiological health (20 percent), the report said.

Fifty-seven percent of prospective Chinese overseas students said they prefer countries and regions that have active policies for containing the pandemic, 54 percent will choose destinations with a less severe pandemic situation, and 50 percent want to study in countries and regions with a friendly relationship and attitude towards China, it said.

The report was based on a survey conducted by Vision Overseas Consulting, a subsidiary of New Oriental Education and Technology Group and consultancy Kantar in January and February. The survey covered 7,893 prospective and existing Chinese overseas students. It is the seventh consecutive year the report was released.