Data obtained from: Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China

Table 1: Number of International Students Studying in China

Through this table, we can find that the number of foreign students in China has increased rapidly every year since the beginning of the 21st Century.


Table 2: Number of Countries/Regions from Which International Students Studying in China Come


There are 233 countries and regions in the world, including 197 countries and 36 regions. From this table, we can see that the international students of Chinese universities are all over most countries and regions in the world.

Table 3: Number of Chinese Universities Receiving International Students


From this table, we can see that international students can choose more and more Chinese universities. Chinese university education is becoming more and more international. Actually, most international students attend prestigious universities in China, among which comprehensive and polytechnic institutions are more popular with international students.

Table 4: Number of International Students in China from Different Continents


From this form, we can see that Asian students are the main source of international students studying in China, accounting for more than half of the number of international students. In recent years, African students have surpassed European students and become the second largest source of foreign students in China.

Table 5: Changes in the Proportion of Degree Students and Non-degree Students

From this comparison chart, we can find that the proportion of non-degree international students studying in China is decreasing, and the proportion of degree international students studying in China is gradually increasing, which has exceeded half of the number of international students in recent years. 

In addition, the proportion of Chinese Government Scholarship students increased from 5.12% (2015) to 12.81% (2018). Korean students are always the largest source of studying in China and Beijing is the largest destination for foreign students in China.

Detailed Statistical Report on International Students in China for 2018

According to the statistics of the Ministry of education of the people's Republic of China, there were 492,185 international students from 196 countries and areas of the world came to study in 1004 colleges and universities distributes over 31 provinces (including autonomous regions and municipalities) in China. The number has increased by 3,013, an increment of 0.62% compared with 2017. (Not include Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan).

I. Statistics by Continents of where the students come from:

	Asia:	295,043 (59.95%)
	Africa:	81,562 (16.57%)
	Europe:	73,618 (14.96%)
	America:	35,733 (7.26%)
	Oceania:	6,229 (1.27%)

*License of all of the continent pics in this table is under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

II. Top 15 Countries of where the students come from:

	Korea:	50,600
	Thailand:	28,608
	Pakistan:	28,023
	India:	23,198
	USA:	20,996
	Russia:	19,239
	Indonesia:	15,050
	Laos:	14,645
	Japan:	14,230
	Kazakhstan:	11,784
	Vietnam:	11,299
	Bangladesh:	10,735
	France:	10,695
	Mongolia:	10,158
	Malaysia:	9,479

III. Top 10 Provinces and Cities in China that Most Foreign Students Chose:

Other places got more than 10,000 international students:

IV: Statistics by Category of Students:

(16,579 students more than 2017, 6.86% increased over the same period of last year)

(12.28% increased over the same period of 2017)

V: Statistics by Sponsor Methods