Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 10:39:42 -0600
From: "Feng, Da" <fengd@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: TOEFL sees sharp drop in attendees in China
To: "Feng, Da" <fengd@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Colleagues:
Recently, there is a great deal of discussions about supply of scientific
and technological workforce for the United States. There is no doubt that
until recently, a significant fraction of students in research
universities, especially in graduate schools throughout the United States,
which will supply the ST pipeline, come from from the People's Republic
of China.
I am neither arguing for or against this supply chain, but in the
following article from China's People Daily (
<http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200311/18/eng20031118_128452.shtml>http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200311/18/eng20031118_128452.shtml),
if the information is accurate, it is clear that United States research
universities can no longer depend on this source of supply for the pipeline.
The main data presented by this report is as follows:
1. In peak years (I suspect this is pre-9-11 years), there are 100,000
students taking the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam
throughout China.
2. Since 9-11, this number has dropped to 30,000.
3. The current year, only 10,000 students took the TOEFL, a factor of TEN
drop from the peak years.
Since students continue to go abroad, I can only assume that they are now
going to Europe, Australia, Canada...
Da Hsuan Feng
Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, November 18, 2003
TOEFL sees sharp drop in attendees in China
The Test of English as a Foreign Language, or so-called TOEFL exam,
appears to be losing its magnetism in China, with a sharp decline in the
number of people taking the test nationally.
The Test of English as a Foreign Language, or so-called TOEFL exam,
appears to be losing its magnetism in China, with a sharp decline in the
number of people taking the test nationally.
The latest test was just administered on Saturday.
Sources from the National Examination Centre under the
<http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/organs/statecouncil.shtml#edu>Ministry
of Education said that it is still hard to say whether the number of TOEFL
participants this year hit a record low.
In <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/beijing.html>Beijing,
TOEFL participants totalled around 10,000 this year, a sharp decline from
more than 30,000 per year in previous years, Beijing-based China Youth
Daily reported yesterday.
The number of TOEFL examinees stood at 100,000 in peak years,the report said.
Officials at the Beijing-headquartered New Oriental Education Group, an
English training centre in China, also witnessed an acute fall of TOEFL
applicants in its training school, around 30 per cent decrease against the
previous year.
Wang Haibo, director of the TOEFL, GRE and GMAT Project in the education
group attributed the drop of the number to the hard applications for US visas.
It became difficult for Chinese students to apply for US visas after
September 11, 2001 when terrorists attacked the
<http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/usa.html>United States, Wang said.
Chinese students also have additional choices for studying abroad compared
with years ago when TOEFL was a major channel for them, Wang said.
Besides TOEFL, the International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
is also widely accepted by Chinese students, a partial reason for the
decrease in the number of TOEFL participants, he said.
Wang predicted that the situation will go on if the United States
continues its stricter visa policy.
In China, most of the participants of TOEFL are college students. Xu
Qiongli, a graduate student in Beijing Broadcasting Institute, is among them.
Xu, who had planned to apply for the scholarship from the American
Universities, sat for the TOEFL examination on Saturday.
She complained that the number of people who are fortunate to succeed in
applying for scholarship from American universities dropped largely in
recent years,which had dampened the enthusiasm of her friends to sit for
TOEFL examination.
Analysts say that Chinese students are increasingly practical about their
plans for studying abroad, and more and more students are trying to seek
opportunities for personal development instead of paying the huge
financial amounts for studying overseas.
Up to press time, US-based Educational Testing Service, the organizer of
TOEFL examination, could not be reached to probe the reason for the decline.
Questions?Comments? Click
<http://english.people.com.cn/other/book/guestbook.php?book_id=128452>here
Da Hsuan Feng
Vice President for Research and Graduate Education and Professor of Physics
The University of Texas at Dallas
AA: Mary Caspari (972-883-4566 and mcaspari@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
<http://www.utdallas.edu/research>http://www.utdallas.edu/research/
The Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Education of
the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) identifies areas of intellectual
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as well as further activates UTD's development as a world class
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