Exploratory team to study conditions for Chinese students in US

A teacher of Vision Overseas’visiting group talks to a Chinese student who studies in New Zealand in this file photo. Zhou Chenggang/for China Daily

A group of teachers from Vision Overseas, a consulting company with expertise in Chinese students studying abroad, is planning to drive across the United States on a fact-finding mission, aimed at improving the experience of Chinese students at US universities.

Vision Overseas, which is part of the private Chinese educational company New Oriental Education and Technology Group, will start its "exploratory trip" on Sept 1.

The team, headed by Vision Overseas CEO Zhou Chenggang, plans to drive some 7,000 kilometers from the west coast to the east, stopping at 11 cities along the way and visiting famous universities and middle schools.

This is the second trip organized by the institute this year. In early August, it sent a group of teachers to New Zealand on a similar scouting operation that lasted two weeks.

Zhou said the trip to the US reflects the rise in numbers of Chinese students attending universities in the country.

According to statistics released by the institute itself, in the 2011-12 school year, a total of 194,000 Chinese student went to America to study, which means there is one Chinese student in every four international students in the US.

"We want to make contact with famous schools in America and collect information on enrollment for other Chinese students who would like to study there," Zhou said.

A teacher of Vision Overseas’visiting group talks to students of Kaikorai Valley College in New Zealand. Zhou Chenggang/for China Daily

Yu Zhongqiu, vice-president of Vision Overseas, said the team members will talk to admission officers at the universities as well as employers in the US business community.

"We would like to know how these people evaluate Chinese students— their advantages and disadvantages compared with other international students, and how these people select Chinese students," Yu said.

"We will also try to discover recent changes in America's enrollment or employment policies, so that we can provide valuable information for Chinese students who want to study in America," he said.

Meanwhile, the group will take notes on the living conditions of Chinese students still at US universities or who have gone on to find work there.

"We will focus on recording things that Chinese students and parents know little about, for example, the loneliness and homesickness of Chinese students, their love stories, and their difficulties in hunting for a job there," he said.

"These are also things that they need to know about before they make the decision of going to study in America."