Top Chinese universities target Vietnamese enrollment

Students were able to meet representatives of the leading 52 universities in China, including renowned names such as Tsinghua, Nanjing, Zhejiang, Fudan and Xiamen.

After touring the exhibition zone of Zhejiang University, Doan Ngoc The Hao, a 10th grader at Nguyen Binh Khiem High School for the Gifted in Quang Nam Province, said he felt more motivated.

Hao flew to Hanoi from Quang Nam on Friday as he wanted to meet a representative of his favored school to ask about the graphic arts major.

"Teachers said that the major I want to study is highly competitive, requiring a high HSK [Chinese language proficiency test] because this is a top three school in China. I know what I need to improve to achieve my goal of studying abroad," Hao said.

Doan Ngoc The Hao, a student of Nguyen Binh Khiem High School for the Gifted, listens to a representative of Zhejiang University at an exhibition in Hanoi on April 22, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Binh Minh

Nguyen Thanh Thao, a 12th-grade student at the Tien Du 1 High School in Bac Ninh Province, came to the exhibition to find out about applying for a Confucius Institute Scholarship at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Thao was impressed with the friendliness of the university representative when they answered her questions. According to Thao, the representative said that the condition to be accepted is to have a GPA of 7.0 or higher and above 210 points in HSK level 4.

"I have applied and hope to receive a scholarship," Thao said. She has an HSK 4 score of 291.

Ma Jian Fei, director of the Center for Language Exchange between China and Foreign Countries, said that this was the largest-scale seminar on studying abroad in China ever held in Vietnam.

According to Tran Anh Chung, director of VMISS Study Abroad Co. Ltd., and a representative of the organizers, the exhibition is an official forum for students to receive direct advice from the admissions committees of universities and learn the latest policies on enrollment and scholarships.

In addition, the universities committed to awarding 50 full scholarships worth more than VND2 billion each, and 100 one-year scholarships to study Chinese.

"For the first time, students can apply, interview and get results on the spot. This is an opportunity for all students, especially those who meet the requirements of the universities, to achieve their dreams in the shortest time," Chung said.

According to China's Ministry of Education and Training, the number of international students in China in 2018 was nearly 490,000, of which around 11,300 were Vietnamese.

Due to the pandemic, the number of international students in China has decreased sharply in the past two years, though this may pick up again as China has fully reopened its doors to international students.