China Tightens University Admission Policies For International Students

The Ministry of Education has issued new guidance for Chinese Universities regarding the admission of students who acquired a foreign nationality by birth but have studied in Chinese primary and secondary schools and have at least one parent who is Chinese, which is regarded as “the rules to close university admission loophole for international students".

According to the notice, starting from 2021, to be eligible for applying for Chinese universities as international students, these students not only have to meet schools' registration requirements, but also need to live in a foreign country for more than two years within the last four years. Additionally, these students need to held valid foreign passports for at least four years. 

This new overseas residency requirement also applies to students who have acquired foreign nationality through emigration. Besides, the notice adds that a person whose parents are both Chinese nationals and have both settled abroad, or one of whose parents is a Chinese national and has settled abroad, and who has acquired foreign nationality at birth will not have Chinese nationality (Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, Article 5). 

In addition, residents of mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao who have applied for Chinese colleges and universities as international students after acquiring foreign nationality should also meet the above requirements. If these students do not meet the overseas residency requirement but want to be admitted to a Chinese university, they could take Gaokao, the national college entrance examination.  

In recent years, cases in which such students receive basic education in China while attending Chinese universities as international students have aroused public discussion on education equity.

Yu Minhong, the founder of New Oriental and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, believed that the new policies have limited effects on closing the university admission loophole for international students and might bring business opportunities for lawbreakers. Previously, he suggested that since the national college entrance exam is highly competitive, many wealthy parents tend to give birth to their children overseas, buy citizenship, or settle abroad to acquire foreign nationality. He also indicates that compared with normal Chinese students, those students with foreign nationality have more advantages which could lead to inequity, to a certain extent.  From his perspective, this phenomenon needs to be resolved by national policies.