China-EU student mobility: policies, opportunities, and challenges
China-EU student mobility: policies, opportunities, and challenges

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to analyze the cooperation between China and the European Union in the field of student mobility. The focus of this analysis regards the tendencies in the mobility of Chinese students to study abroad in the EU, particularly in what concerns the increase of their number in the universities of Central and Eastern Europe. We assess comparatively the characteristics of existing and potential opportunities as well as of challenges in the China-EU cooperation. The study uses qualitative methods to analyze the references on this topic, as well as the Chinese and the EU strategy and policy documents, papers, reports, and other documents from analytical centers, scientific and government institutions. The authors seek to prove that cooperation between China and the EU in the field of student mobility tends to increase due to the increase in the number of Chinese students willing to study abroad, to the deterioration of the US- China relations, and to the coincidence of European expectations and China’s interests in the field. Although the most popular European countries among Chinese students are the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, and the Netherlands, since 2013 the numbers of Chinese students coming to Central and Eastern Europe, especially in Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic, has increased. The EU-China student mobility provides a wide range of opportunities for the development of cooperation between both sides in the political, economic, cultural spheres, as well as in the extent of interpersonal contacts. Moreover, there are several risks and challenges associated with the different approaches of China and European countries to the development of higher education.

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