China Wants 8 Million Students to Enroll in Transnational Education

China is already the largest consumer of transnational education (TNE) programs, or domestic education programs overseen or offered by foreign higher education institutions. At least 800,000 Chinese students are enrolled in TNEs this year. But China wants even more of its students to participate in TNEs and is aiming to increase enrollment tenfold in the coming years. Here’s how and why China is promoting TNE to its young people.

A growing student base

China has seen rapid growth in higher education enrollment. From 2022 to 2025, the number of students enrolled in China’s universities has increased by more than 4 percent and has now reached nearly 50 million students at more than 3,000 Chinese institutions. Earlier this year, nearly 13.5 million students took the gaokao, the Chinese national college entrance exam, and more than 12 million students will graduate from Chinese universities during this academic cycle.

Despite the enormous numbers of Chinese students graduating from secondary school and seeking places at Chinese universities, the country’s current higher education system can only cater to a percentage of those who pass the gaokao. The number of available places at Chinese universities is estimated to be between 10 and 30 percent fewer than those seeking enrollment, and the most prestigious Chinese universities enroll less than 1 percent of their applicants.

Students are staying closer to home

Historically, Chinese students have been highly mobile. In 2021 and 2022, over one million Chinese students went abroad for their higher education, with approximately a quarter of those heading to the USA. The UK and Australia were also popular destinations, each hosting about 150,000 Chinese students during the same period.

But Chinese students are becoming more conservative with their international education choices. Since 2022, the Big Four countries – the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia – have seen decreases in Chinese enrollments, and India has overtaken China as the number one sender of students to the USA. Instead, Chinese students have been looking closer to home.

This year, Seoul and Tokyo placed first and second, respectively, for top global student cities, and both South Korea and Japan have seen surges in Chinese international students since the pandemic. Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia are also increasing in popularity with Chinese students.

Where TNE fits

Since 2024, China’s government has been working to expand higher educational offerings to cater to the increasing number of students pursuing university degrees. Many of the country’s leading institutions have announced plans to expand enrollment, usually in strategic fields like AI, biomedical sciences, and other high-tech subjects, often by developing an interdisciplinary approach or new collaborative departments.

The Chinese government is also seeking to expand enrollment in TNE programs and to develop new TNE programs with institutions around the world. Approximately 800,000 Chinese students are enrolled in TNE programs, and the Chinese government hopes to grow that to 8 million! Earlier this year, the government announced the approval of 113 new TNE projects, and another 46 were approved in September, including 16 joint institutes.

Notably, like Chinese students, these partnerships are looking beyond the Big Four, with China developing TNE programs with Brazil, New Zealand, Germany, and France, as well as neighboring countries like Malaysia and South Korea.

What’s next?

Due to both the increasing demand for domestic university places and a continued emphasis on the benefits and prestige of international degrees, China’s government sees the development of more “Chinese-Foreign Cooperation” projects in higher education as an easy win. The country already has a well-established process for the application and delivery of TNE programs. And with student demand for university placement high, recruitment and enrollment numbers are likely to be met.

Expanded TNE offerings are also a boon for inbound international students in China. In 2023, approximately 680,000 international students studied in China, with most students coming from neighboring countries like South Korea and Thailand. Offering English-taught programs has been one of the ways that the Chinese government has sought to recruit international students, and TNE programs are often taught in English.

The Chinese government has not specified a timeline for achieving the 8 million enrollments; it’s likely a long-term goal. New programs usually take about two years to complete the application and approval process before they are implemented. In the meantime, millions of Chinese students continue to seek placement at home and abroad.