China emerges as a new destination for Bangladeshi students to pursue higher education and do jobs in the second-largest global economy-in virtual reaffirmation of the maxim 'Go to far-off China if to acquire knowledge'.
The flow of students to China is growing in a post-Covid rebound, competent sources said Monday, naming the faculties of learning in academia linked to modern-day jobs.
Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence (AI), International Trade, Mechanical Engineering and Medicine are the topical subjects for students from Bangladesh to learn and find a good job in China, they said.
About 80 per cent of the Bangladeshi students over there are studying in bachelor degree as China is comparatively cheaper destination than western countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union countries for the studentship, according to the sources.
Local student-consulting and enrollment-facilitating firms, Bangladeshi professionals in China and students say there are big opportunities of jobs for the Bangladeshis in China after completing their graduation or post-graduation over there.
Dr Misbahul Ferdous, a Bangladeshi-born cardiologist in Beijing, told the FE: "Lot of Bangladeshi students are now choosing China for their graduation and post-graduation."
Although it was suspended during the pandemic period, the Chinese universities and institutions have again opened their windows for global students, including Bangladeshis, and therefore the Bangladeshi student flow is growing again, he added.
Dr Ferdous, a PhD from Shandong University School of Medicine and also a China Scholarship Council award-recipient, has said some Bangladeshi students assume that Chinese language is harder than others, which is not true.
"If anybody can study four years in China, he/she can learn Chinese language easily. Then their communications skills will be boosted and their confidence level will be much higher on the job market after completion of studies," the cardiologist in Beijing told the FE over the telephone.
Many scholarships are being offered by Chinese universities for the Bangladeshi students for studying free, the sources said.
Last year (2022), 176 students migrated to China for pursuing their higher education, UNESCO data showed.
However, the language barriers and the limited opportunity for jobs during the studentship period have discouraged the aspirants for choosing China as the better education destination, they pointed out.
Fakhrul Arefin, business associate of a private student education-consultation firm, FICC in Dhaka, says they are working for sending students to China in a change of course from the crowded western centres.
"There are huge Bangladeshi student outflows to the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and the European countries. Nowadays, China is one of the better choices for the Bangladeshi students due to comparatively lower education costs than in western countries," he adds.
Mr Arefin finds language barriers, limited job opportunities during studentship and lack of awareness about the China education system as the major reasons for lower outflow of Bangladeshi students to China than western countries.
"Our consulting firm and many others are working here in Bangladesh to make students aware about education and China and the future opportunities at home and abroad for the graduates and post-graduates," the business associate of the FICC told the FE.
The FE writer has found scores of consulting firms in Dhaka which are working with the aspirant students for pursuing higher education overseas. Most of the firms are situated in Gulshan, Bananai and Motijheel areas in the capital city, Dhaka.
Zahurul Islam, a joint secretary at Education Ministry, says they are working to boost cultural and educational cooperation with China, especially in the field of technical education.
"China every year offers scholarships to Bangladeshi students for studying in different fields. We are laying emphasis on getting Chinese help in technical education in engineering, and AI," he adds.
The Chinese embassy in Bangladesh also works to expand the economic and cultural cooperation between Dhaka and Beijing under which it offers scholarship for the Bangladeshi students every year.
For the academic year 2023-24, a total of 55 Bangladeshi students won the Chinese Government Scholarship (CGS). They include 18 undergraduate, 23 masters and 14 doctoral students.
According to the China mission in Dhaka, nearly 500 applied in the first round for the CGS, which is the yearly the largest number of applicants in the past three years.
The admission ratio is close to 1:10, and it is also the year with "the most intense admission competition" in the past three years, it says.
The CGS winners have been enrolled in different institutions, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and Tongji University, in the fields of science, engineering, medicine, economics, management, and teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages.
In the last academic year, 2021-22, China government offered 53 scholarships to Bangladeshi applicants. As of 2020, nearly 2,673 students had enjoyed the CGS, the Chinese embassy said.
In addition, the Chinese scholarships open to Bangladeshi students also include various provincial government scholarships, municipal government scholarships, university scholarships, Confucius Institute scholarships, vocational education scholarships and in many other categories.
Mahbubur Rahman, a student studying at Ningbo University in China, has said job opportunity in the world's second-largest economy is huge at this moment as it needs growing numbers of manpower in AI, software engineering, and mechanical engineering.
Many Bangladeshi students here studying in medicine who may go back to their own country for serving the people better, the student said.
Mohammad Mominul Hoque Bhuiyan, Economic Counselor at the Bangladesh Embassy in China, told the FE that they were working with the Chinese government for enhancing the educational opportunities of the Bangladeshi students.
"We have already requested the Chinese government to extend its support under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to technical education in Bangladesh. Our Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni in September last during her visit to China requested the counterpart government for enhancing support to TVET education," Mr Bhuiyan said.
Medical and engineering especially software and AI are the better choices of the Bangladeshi students in China for education, he added.
"After completion of education here many Bangladeshis are working or pursuing business in different cities in China," says the Economic Counselor.
Meanwhile, the number of Bangladeshi students going abroad for the studies is increasing year on year in a rebound from the Covid-19 losses.
According to the latest report of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 49,151 students went or were set to go abroad in 2022. The number was 44,338 in 2021.
The USA is still the top favorite among the destinations for Bangladeshi students. In 2022, some 8,665 Bangladeshi students went to America for higher education. The number was 8,122 in 2021.
Besides, some 7,548 students went to Malaysia, 5,647 to Australia, 5,136 to Canada, 3,930 to Germany, 3,194 to the UK, 2,750 to India, 2,436 to Japan, 1,136 to South Korea, 1,168 to Saudi Arabia, 973 to Sweden, 907 to Cyprus, 821 to Finland, 686 to Turkey, 393 to Qatar, 235 to Thailand, 233 to Russia, 224 to Estonia, 222 to Norway, 213 to Poland, 182 to Hungary, 181 to New Zealand, 178 to China and Hong Kong, 174 to Denmark, 149 to Italy, 139 to Oman, 135 to Ukraine, 134 to France, and 110 students to Portugal in 2022, the UNESCO data showed.
Meanwhile, China is one of the largest bilateral trade and development partners of Bangladesh as the country joined BRI in 2016.
According to Chinese Ambassador in Bangladesh Yao Wen, China's investment in Bangladesh had grown from $241 million in 2016 to $1.346 billion in 2022.
Besides, the bilateral trade had also expanded to $22.8 billion in 2022, the envoy has said.
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