The Chinese mainland has been the second largest source of
foreign students at Harvard University for the past seven years,
said the prestigious US university.
Among 3,913 international students from 141 countries studying
at the university for the 2007-08 academic year, 400, or 10.22
percent, are from the Chinese mainland, second only to 489
Canadians, the Harvard International Office said.
The number of Chinese mainland students at Harvard has increased
81.8 percent in the past 16 years.
More than half of Chinese students there are studying at the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAC), while others are
scattered across various schools ranging from business to
design.
The Chinese mainland once topped the international origin
countries at Harvard during academic year 1991-92.
But it was dethroned the following year and ranked between
second and fourth until academic year 1999-2000, after which it
maintained second place, according to Harvard's International
Office. Yongwook Ryu, a South Korean PhD candidate at the
Department of Government under GSAC, said he has met a lot of
Chinese students on campus.
"They impress me deeply by their hard working and efforts to
learn Western civilization," said Ryu, who majored in international
politics.
Most Chinese students at Harvard are taking postgraduate courses
and focusing on research work, he added.
Zhang Xiaoxia, an undergraduate senior at Beijing University of
Posts and Telecommunication who has applied for Harvard, said the
news is very encouraging. "This is recognition from Harvard of the
talent of Chinese elites, and now I am more confident about my
application," she said.
The number of Chinese mainland students studying in the United
States hit a record high in 2007.
About 51,500 student and exchange visitor visas were issued to
mainland Chinese in the fiscal year, up 40 percent from 2006 and
double the figure in 2004, according to the US Embassy in
China.
Also, 22 students from Hong Kong and 117 from Taiwan are
studying at Harvard during the current academic year.
Asian countries take up three seats among the five top foreign
student sources of Harvard, with South Korea and India ranking
third and fourth respectively.
(China Daily January 4, 2008)