Discuss the Development of International Education in China

Nowadays, international education has experienced a boom in China. More and more students are glad to choose to receive this new kind of education mode. The Derricott(2014) defined the international education as two general meanings. “The first refers to education that transcends national borders by the students. The second is that develop students to be active and be the participants in an interconnected world.” Many people support this kind of new thing and think it is better than domestic education. However, many people also hold the views that it does not suit for all the students. This essay will mainly analyze the advantages like connection with the globe and disadvantages like the language barrier and culture-shock of international education in China, and give some personal advice to the development of the international education.

Many studies have found a lot of advantages when they study the effect of the international education. First of all, international education create a good environment for students to improve their language capability. In China, most of these international school use English as an teaching language. It gives students more opportunities to utilize their English knowledge and they can perform better achievements than their peers(Andrade, 2006). When they go into the atmosphere that they have never seen before, they face a series of difficulties to finish their strict essay and try to express their ideas in the discussion (Sherry et al., 2010). In this process, they can get real progress in their second language. In contrast, the students who do the education in common schools may just get some theories and exam techniques about English which could not have the practical effect on their English levels(Pan et al., 2011). In addition, this kind of language skills was seen really important in this globalized times. This is one of the most important benefits for students educated in the international schools.

Secondly, the another kind of benefits is that international education in China enables many foreign pepele get in touch with Chinese outstanding culture(Marginson, 2000) and experience the another culture in here. The prevalence of International Education in China attracts more and more students from all over the world to receive education in here. They learn some traditional disciplines in China. As we all know, China has a lot of traditional dominant subjects relying on its centuries-old history, like architecture, literature etc, and China is ahead of the rest of the world in these areas(Wang, 2008). So, it is a good choice for foreign students to study these subjects and understand China directly. After they come back to their homelands, they will use the knowledge they learned, which can gradually spread Chinese culture and values to the world.

Thirdly, special studying methods could increase cross-cultural communication opportunities and communicative competence. In the international class, students always have to finish their group work together, which is quite different to the individual study in China. Hence, the propulsion of the international education in China provides local students with interaction to those students from the whole world(Spencer, 2013). Group work is a good way to help students to share their ideas, build their confidence and improve interaction(Cruickshank et al., 2012). It is also an effective way to complete some works in the modern societies. For example, when students are allocated to different groups in the classroom, they will have the chances to meet another countries students and have to solve the questions together. Then English-speaking environment gives them times to get the intercultural skills. This customs brought up in the class will continue to their lives. So, it could increase their intercultural competence.

However, although the pros it brings are very huge, it also emerges some problems to students from different countries because of the adaption. The disadvantages are divided as follows. First of all, the high tuition fees for international education in China made it impossible for many students in families with less affluent to touch it. International schools in China require massive financing to operate(Sanyal&Johnstone, 2011). In this society, most of the international schools in China are privately-operated. It means they could not get the financial support from the local government. Therefore, all the money used in schools should be gathered from students. In addition, in order to meet the internationalization credentials, the schools have to build international teachers’ teams, which also need to cost a lot of money(Dong&Wan, 2012). Compared with the Chinese ordinary schools, the tuition fees in international schools are many times than theirs. For example, the tuition fee in XJTLU is 88000 yuan per year, but normal schools in China is just five thousands yuan. On the whole, it will have an expensive tuition fees to students.

What’s more, international education does not bring good effects completely to satisfy all the students. Not all students can get positive impact from the international education. The opinions are divided as follows. Firstly, international education advocate that students should study by themselves rather than under the supervision of teachers. This require students to have a strong self-control abilities(Marginson, 2014). Secondly, they should have the interest in international education. Many students are accustomed to the original teaching methods. If they choose another ways of teaching rashly, they may not gain a better academic achievements. Thirdly, students need to have a strong English competence and higher hobbies to use it in daily lives. It ensured that they have constant confidence in international education(Kirkpatrick, 2012). Therefore, international education does not suit for all the students.

In addition, international education may have a huge culture shock to many students who come to study abroad. Culture shock means that a person moves to a new environment which is different from one's