Insightperspectives January 1, 2016 v3

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25
China
Go West! Why
Chinese students
go abroad – and
why only some of
them return
In 2014, a record number of 459,800 students left
China to study abroad, an increase of 11.1 per cent
over 2013. More than three and a half million Chinese
have studied abroad since the country opened up in
1978 and China is now, by a wide margin,
Studying abroad is primarily a family investment. Close
to 92 per cent of the students who left in 2014 went
out on their own expense. The Chinese government
By Invitation
Insightperspectives regularly invites experts to write on
“special” issues. In this context, dr. phil.,
professor of China Studies, School of Culture and Society,
Aarhus University, has been invited to write about why
millions of young Chinese study abroad.
dr. phil., is professor of China Studies, School
of Culture and Society, Aarhus University. He went to China
for the first time as a language student in 1974-1975 and has
followed the transformation of Chinese society ever since. He
has done fieldwork in several Chinese provinces and has
published extensively on Chinese education and on political,
social and cultural change in rural China. Presently, Stig
Thøgersen is particularly interested in the changing worldview
of young Chinese professionals and is heading a research
project on