More choice

Gu Keyu, 33, who comes from Kunming, Yunnan province, and is the mother of an 8-year-old girl, decided to move to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2019 for her daughter to receive an international education.

"My husband and I were keen to offer more choice for our daughter, whose life at home seemed mainly to comprise studying and achieving better scores, leaving little time for her to play or develop her interests," she said.

Gu is impressed by Thailand's warm climate and friendly environment, where people frequently greet each other with a smile on the streets.

"Schoolwork here is not as difficult as it was in China, but the education system requires students to have all-around development in morality, intelligence, sports, arts and practical skills," Gu said.

In the past three years, her daughter has changed from being a shy child to a cheerful and confident young girl who is willing to express her opinions.

"I was touched to receive a sealed and confidential assessment about my daughter at the end of term, and to hear the principal say in a speech that the school wants to focus on students' progress compared with the previous year, and see how they have improved, rather than judge them by their final score," Gu said.

She added that she thinks it worthwhile spending 150,000 yuan ($20,550) a year to live in Thailand.

The relatively low cost of education in Southeast Asia is another factor attracting Chinese students, who typically spend two years on average in Thailand studying for a master's at a cost of about $31,000. In South Korea, the cost is about $16,000 per year, compared with the $50,000 it costs to study in the UK for a year and $100,000 in the US.

Lower costs were a key concern for Yu Yi, 45, the mother of an 18-year-old daughter from Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, after the teenager chose to study in the China-Korea international class in second grade at senior high school.

Her daughter is now studying at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, the South Korean capital, majoring in humanities. As a parent, Yu believes that studying abroad can make a big difference in developing a child's independence, compared with a college education in the home country.

"It will be easier for my daughter to enter a higher-ranking university anywhere in the world, as she is studying in South Korea, which may also broaden her vision, allow her to make new friends, become independent, and most important, increase her competitiveness in future employment," Yu said.

"She felt as though she had suddenly grown up when she had to do everything herself, from examining her body, to contacting the local taxi company to be picked up from the airport. She has also recently started cooking Chinese cuisine."

However, Yu suggests that if a family has sufficient financial resources, studying in countries such as the US and the UK is a better option.

"Although the culture, lifestyles and eating habits in South Korea are quite similar to those in China, the overall standard and recognition of overseas study in Europe and the US is higher than in Asia," she said.

Meanwhile, compared with the increasing popularity of Asian universities, fewer Chinese students are enrolling at those in the US.

The Open Doors 2021 report by the Institute of International Education shows that last year, the number of students from the Chinese mainland studying in the US fell by 14.8 percent year-on-year to 317,299.

Pan Jie, chief product officer at Liyuan Education, an overseas education consulting company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, said: "Chinese students have gradually taken to studying abroad as a regular option for higher education. This trend signals a redistribution of educational resources, while the study destinations are also becoming more diversified."