Yunnan attracts numerous international students from South and Southeast Asian

International students are studying in Dali University. Photo by Luo Rongchan

In recent years, Yunnan Province, taking advantage of its regional advantages, has accelerated the opening up of its educational institutions to the outside world. This has helped attract a large number of students from South and Southeast Asia eager to pursue further studies.
Last year, the number of international students in Yunnan exceeded 18,000, ranking among top ten in the country.

“The international influence of Yunnan’s educational system, especially its influence in South and Southeast Asia, has been further strengthened,” said Zhou Rong, director of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Education.

Yunnan is building itself into a pivot of China’s opening up to South and Southeast Asia. A clear majority of international students in the province are from South and Southeast Asian countries. In 2017 alone, more than 10,000 students from these countries came to study in the province.

Budida is an Indonesian girl. She studied tourism management at Southwest Forestry University. As China has increased tourism ties with ASEAN member states, she readily seized the opportunity. Today, her travel agency in Indonesia cooperates with its counterparts in Yunnan, and her business covers all of Indonesia. “I hope to help both people experience different cultures and better understand each other through the tourism industry,” she said.

With the global craze for the Chinese language, Yunnan Province is intensifying its language promotion efforts to the international community. Up until now, the province has held “Chinese Bridge” language proficiency competition for foreign secondary students six years in a row and has set up 15 Confucius Institutes classrooms.

The enthusiasm for learning Chinese is running high in Belt and Road countries. And the study of Chinese is helping more and more students in South and Southeast Asian countries achieve their dreams. Gadding, a young man from Laos, is now studying Chinese in Yunnan. He said, “I hope to learn Chinese well and contribute to the cross-border eco-tourism industry between China and Laos.”  

Editor: John Li