Insightperspectives January 1, 2016 v3

backpackers who take a year off between high school

and university. Having spent some time abroad is

rapidly becoming a symbol of culture, a marker of

knowing the good life.

The growing number of alternative primary schools and

even kindergartens in China can be expected to create

their own audience for foreign education as it will

prove difficult for children who have attended such

schools to return to the regular Chinese state system.

Whether students will go back to China after

graduation or stay abroad will depend on the job

markets in both China and the West, on immigration

rules, and on a host of other factors. However, there is

a clear trend towards more flexible arrangements,

where those Chinese whose qualifications are in

particular high demand will travel between and

combine positions in China and the West. Their families

will probably live abroad. Away from the smog and the

hardships of the Chinese school system.