China Through Foreign Eyes:International Students' Education And Its Political Implications

In recent years,the number of foreign students in Chinese higher education sector has been rapidly growing and international students' education has become an important tool for China to improve political relations with sending countries and to promote its soft-power.The purpose of this study is to investigate international students' opinion of their host country,China and to explore whether foreign students are attracted towards their host country's culture,political system and government policies due to the education content received and protracted contact with the host culture.The study points out different factors that could influence international students' overall experience and opinions about their host country.The research method is both questionnaires and in-depth interviews with foreign students,from different regions of the world in Shanghai universities.The analysis points out that almost every foreign student in China had positive views about their host country and had favorable study-abroad experience.Likewise,international students usually had favorable opinion about Chinese people and they were satisfied with their education.Furthermore,they believed that China's culture is attractive,but regardless of the protracted contact and education content received majority of the students would not endorse the idea to emulate China's political system and would not support China's foreign policies.However,students' background seems to have highest relevance when formulating opinion about the host country's foreign policies and political system and good country to country relations between host and home countries makes China more attractive for international students as development model.Also,length of stay enhances cultural empathy of foreign students that correlates with more positive and balanced perceptions about Chinese society.A globally competitive Chinese higher education system that satisfies the aspirations of international students in terms of education quality would have better soft-power outcomes for the host country by attracting more high-caliber foreign students.