Crunch time for China’s university hopefulsーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
they’ve put in countless early mornings and sleepless night taking notes memorizing textbooks staring at screens and now it’s crunch time for millions of university hopefuls across China But competition for places is fierce More than 60% of high school students in the country advance to higher education Economic woes and political rifts have only raised the stakes The pressure is on University entrance exams kicked off on Saturday across China Traffic is restricted around some venues and tents distribute water It all adds to the sense of gravitas I should be okay if my nerves hold up but I’m uneasy right now So nervous but I’ve prepared fairly well More than 13.3 million people applied for the exams The figure is down only slightly on the record set last year After all China’s economy has slowed making good jobs harder to find Many youngsters want to get ahead by going to university first But graduating is no guarantee About 10% of people aged 16 to 24 were unemployed in 2018 Five years later the figure had doubled to more than 20% The applicants and their families seek all marginal gains Some relatives dress up on exam day It’s set to bring good luck Leu Fen Yao is a third-year high school student in Hanan Province He has a mountain to climb but he’s not giving up Last year there are more than 1.3 million applicants in Henan more than anywhere else in China And this year Leu needs to be among the top 10% to secure a place in his first choice uni So he studies from 6:00 in the morning until almost midnight I definitely feel the pressure but I’m studying hard so that I can get into a good university and help my parents to live comfortably in the future Leu’s father comes from a rural area and couldn’t go to university In addition to the income as taxi drivers he rented out his hometown’s farmland to cover school expenses Unlike my generation no children today will be hired without an academic background It can be really beneficial You can make money Some students escaped China’s academic pressure pot by moving abroad The United States is the most popular destination filled with prestigious universities But changes are a foot not least because of the political rift between Washington and Beijing In the academic year starting in 2023 there were more than 270,000 Chinese students in the United States A lot yes but the figure is down nearly 100,000 in just four years The decline has continued even after worst days of the coronavirus pandemic And it’s unlikely to tick upward anytime soon because the Trump administration plans to revoke visas for people related to the Chinese Communist Party Other countries suddenly look a lot more appealing The number of Chinese students in Japan reached 123,000 in the previous academic year That’s up about 8,000 from the year before A language school in Tokyo says more Chinese students are enrolling with an eye on attending a Japanese university Competition for education is intensifying in China In Japan I think I can enter a high ranking university if I learn the language Officials at the school expect the trend to continue The United States has created anxiety by changing its policy on international students I think more Chinese may choose Japan because of the geographical proximity and lower costs For more let’s go to Nakamura Genta in Beijing So Genta even if the number of test takers has declined it seems like competition is still fierce Uh that’s right China obviously has a huge population and there is no sign the economy is picking up anytime soon Youth unemployment is also still alarmingly high uh put it all together and the exam is seen as one of the few ways to improve your lot in life So the pressure to succeed is definitely growing and it’s taking a toll on students A 2022 survey from Peeking University found Chinese high schoolers study for on average 60 hours a week The emotional cost is staggering and we see that in the numbers According to Chinese media from 2010 to 2021 the child suicide rate quadrupled Experts say the academic pressure is a key factor And as the competition intensifies so do the costs Families are shelling out more and more for tutoring pushing household budgets to the limit It’s created a system that increasingly favors the wealthy Alarmed by the growing inequality the government took drastic action in 2021 They effectively shut down China’s for-profit turting industry The $70 billion sector collapsed overnight It even had a ripple effect on the broader economy But in the end it didn’t address the root cause of the issue If anything it just highlighted how deep the problem runs So long as students believe the exam is the key to a better life then they’re going to fight for it Gentto we just talked about the effect this is having on Japanese universities Uh do you think that trend will continue Uh probably At the University of Tokyo alone there are now more than 3,500 Chinese students nearly uh nearly triple the number from a decade ago They make up close to 70% of the international student body That trend is likely to persist With the US tightening its student visa rules Japan has become an increasingly attractive alternative So uh competition among Chinese students even for sports abroad is heating up Some experts say that uh fierce competitiveness is even being exported playing out among Chinese students on Japanese campuses Both at home and abroad The pressure isn’t letting up anytime soon Their battle for a better future will still rage on
Millions of university hopefuls take their entrance exams across China. Economic woes and political rifts raise the stakes even higher. #asia #china #donaldtrump #analysis #education #foreignersinjapan #asiapacific
More stories on China: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/tags/30/
Please subscribe HERE: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSPEjw8F2nQDtmUKPFNF7_A?sub_confirmation=1