Higher Education for International Students in China - A Review of Policy From 1978 to 2020

Oct 15, 2026

Review of China’s higher education policies for international students from 1978 to 2020 identifies shifts in social–historical context, policy issues, and policy solutions. Using qualitative text analysis of 112 policy documents from PKULAW and the Ministry of Education, the study derives four stages. Results show changing policy focus from openness to expansion and then to quality, with central-government policy evolution. Implications support policymaking tailored to student types and detailed guidance plus capacity building across majors.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Purpose

Design/Approach/Methods

Findings

Originality/Value

Overview of the problem

Internationalization rationales and ideologies

Policy issues in major recruiting countries

COVID-19 and visa policy responses

China’s position as a host and exporter

Higher Education for International Students in China: A Review of Policy From 1978 to 2020 Yuting Zhang (张玉婷) and Yu Liao (廖钰) Zhejiang Normal University ECNU Review of Education 2021, Vol. 4(4) 873–889 ª The Author(s) 2021 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/2096531120974382](DOI: 10.1177/2096531120974382)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/2096531120974382)[journals.sagepub.com/home/roe](journals.sagepub.com/home/roe) Abstract Purpose: By reviewing policies on higher education for international students, this article aims to investigate the change of social–historical context, policy issue, and policy solution and provide implications for policymaking. Design/Approach/Methods: The study used qualitative text analysis. One hundred and twelve policy papers were collected from the PKULAW database and the Ministry of Education official website. Deductive categories were constructed under themes like social–historical context, policy issue, and policy solution separately. Findings: Four stages have emerged from the text analysis. The policy focus witnessed a shift from openness to expansion and then to quality. The policies made by the central government changed alot accordingly. China is increasingly active in higher education internationalization and eager to make the education for international students an attractive brand with high quality. To realize this target, policies should be made based on different types of international students. Additionally, it is necessary that policies provide detailed guidance and accelerate capacity building in all majors. Originality/Value: This study contributes to existing knowledge of higher education for international students in China by providing qualitative policy text analysis, and the insights gained from this study may be of assistance to policymaking in the future. Corresponding author: Yuting Zhang, Institute of International and Comparative Education, Zhejiang Normal University, 688 Yingbin Rd., Jinhua 321004, China. Email: [zyt423@foxmail.com](zyt423@foxmail.com) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). Keywords Higher education for international students, policy review, qualitative text analysis Date received: 7 June 2020; accepted: 27 October 2020 Overview of the problem With the increase of international student mobility as a global phenomenon, a considerable amount of literature has been published in this field to investigate the policy in individual countries or compare the policies between countries. Knight (2004) defined four rationales driving internationalization: social/cultural, political, academic, and economic rationales. Stier (2004) identified idealism, instrumentalism, and educationalism as the ideologies in higher education internationalization. Stein and de Oliveira Andreotti (2016) categorized the instrumentalist discourses into cash, competition, and charity. Although reducing international student issues to a category of internationalization has been viewed as unsatisfactory, there is a strong consensus among researchers with regards to the rationale of related policies in major recruiting countries, like the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and Canada. As indicated by the term “great brain race”(Wildavsky, 2012), attraction and retention of international students were recognized as the main policy issue in these countries. International stud

FAQs

What is the article’s purpose in reviewing policies from 1978 to 2020?

It reviews policies on higher education for international students to examine changes in social–historical context, policy issues, and policy solutions, and to provide implications for policymaking.

How did the study conduct its analysis?

It used qualitative text analysis on 112 policy papers collected from the PKULAW database and the Ministry of Education official website, with deductive categories built around three themes.

What four stages and policy shifts were found?

Four stages emerged. Policy focus shifted from openness to expansion and then to quality, alongside changes in central government policy-making.

Oct 15, 2026

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