Her mother, who accompanied her for registration, felt reassured after seeing the double dormitory room of about 40 square meters that Wu will share with a roommate from Turkiye.

"My city is very small, and hardly anyone around me goes abroad, so I had never thought about studying overseas for my undergraduate degree," Wu said. "I knew very little about it."

Generous scholarships, promising job prospects in energy and technology, and a surge in economic links have made universities from Saudi Arabia to the UAE attractive for ambitious young Chinese like her.

Wu previously attended Shuocheng No 1 High School in Shanxi. Exhausted by the demands of high school, she decided to forgo the gaokao college entrance exam and pursue a university education abroad.

"I was feeling really tired from high school. And when I learned about the option to study in the Middle East, it felt like a fresh start," she recalled.

She received offers from several institutions, including Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi and the University of Sharjah, but chose King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, ranked 67th globally in the QS World University Rankings 2026. Awarded a full scholarship covering tuition, flights, accommodation and living expenses, she became the first Chinese undergraduate admitted to the university.

Wu enrolled in the newly established data science and engineering program and plans to work locally after graduation. "The full scholarship also eased some of the financial pressure on my parents," she said.