Why Is More Difficult for Liberal Arts College to Enroll More International Students From China?

Following the topic from last week, I still want to talk about the relationship between the colleges in Vermont or even in the United States and international students from China. I had mentioned in last blog that I was unexpectedly called by a staff from admission office in our school, and he wanted to talk about promoting Saint Michael's College to students in China through some Chinese social medias on internet. Therefore, I would like to talk about why our school facing a more difficult problem than other universities to enroll more students from China in the U.S.

When I say connect the relationship between the U.S and international students from China, the only adjective that I can describe it should be “attention-getting.” Since 2009, Chinese students became the largest portion of total international students studying in the U.S. In 2009, there were 690,923 international students in the U.S and 18.5% of the total students were from China. However, the total number of international students in the U.S incredibly rose to 886,052 last year, and the international students from China increased to even a more double number, which was 274,439, counted as 31% of total.

Since more and more Chinese students coming to the U.S for a better education, the most important questions that any school's marketing department would care are "where and what kind of schools do Chinese students want to go?" Is it a state university, private school, community college or liberal arts college? Actually, before I give you a specific answer for that question, I would like to introduce some unique cultures in China. Then, you probably could give yourself an answer.

Even though China now became the largest power of economy, its GDP per capita is only 12900 (from the World Facebook, CIA.gov) and it is still a developing country. In China, in order to show a power of a person, Chinese people usually somehow choose to show off. For example, Chinese people sometimes care about what kind of cars they drive more than what kind apartment or house they live. Because all of their friends and colleagues could see what kind of cars they own, not everyone could come to their apartment or house to visit. If in a wealth social class, what would people show off to compare? The answer would be a better car.

However, not every family would like to show off, but people still have a competitive mind. When parents could afford their kid to go study abroad, the most important thing they care would be the reputation of the school that their kid goes to. Because any Chinese child who is planning to go study abroad could be the first generation going to study abroad in the family. If the child could not graduate from a famous college in the U.S, their parents would feel disappointed and their money were not worth to be paid.

As a result, a school with a higher reputation would be the first target of Chinese students who want to study abroad in the U.S. They would not care about how the class’s quality is if there are 200 students in one class. The only thing they would care is how famous the school is unless they understand the real education system in the U.S.

In addition, most wealth families in China live in an urban areas, especially big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and etc. Because of the one child policy, Chinese kids started getting spoiled when they were little. Since their parents could afford whatever they want, they already get used to the life of urban life and they love it. Because they had never had a rough time in their life, it is a huge different from the countryside to the city. As a result, the Chinese children who are going to study in the U.S would choose the schools in urban areas first because they do not want to have a boring life if they go to a suburban areas.

The hardest thing that SMC is facing is that it is a liberal arts college and it is not located in a urban place. More importantly, because the international students from China are usually the first generation of going oversea in their family, they do not really understand the real education system in the U.S.  In my opinion, comparing to other state universities and big schools, the fundamental education, small classes with higher class quality and professors’ care would only be offered by a liberal arts college.

So what I would suggest SMC marketing department to do is to not just promote our school to overall Chinese families because we cannot convince them unless they change their minds psychologically. I was a marketer in SMC, I would narrow down my targets and shift to some Chinese families that their kids are not the first generation of studying oversea. Because those families who probably understand what a liberal arts college is and what a real fundamental education is.