With the improvement of China’s overall national strength and international influence, China is also becoming an important destination for overseas students. According to data from the Ministry of Education, a total of 489,200 foreign students studied in Chinese higher education institutions in 2017. The growth rate of the scale has been maintained at more than 10% for two consecutive years, including 241,500 diploma students, accounting for 49.38% of the total, an increase of 15.04% over the same period of last year. According to statistics, in 2017, a total of various types of foreign students from 204 countries and regions studied in 935 institutions of higher learning in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, of whom approximately 75,800 were masters and doctoral students. The scale of study abroad in China has continued to expand. China has become Asia's largest destination country for studying abroad.

The top 10 source countries for studying in China in 2017 were South Korea, Thailand, Pakistan, the United States, India, Russia, Japan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Laos. The number of international students along the “Belt and Road” route was 317,200, accounting for 64.85% of the total number, an increase of 11.58%. A total of 341,900 international students from 11 eastern provinces such as Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang accounted for 69.88% of the total.

It is worth noting that the distribution of subjects for international students in China is more reasonable. The number of students studying liberal arts still ranks first, accounting for 48.45% of the total number of students; the number of students studying engineering, management, science, arts, and agronomy has increased significantly, year-on-year growth. More than 20%.