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TOEFL sees sharp drop in attendees in China
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2003 12:31:08 -0500
Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 10:39:42 -0600 From: "Feng, Da" <fengd () utdallas edu> Subject: TOEFL sees sharp drop in attendees in China To: "Feng, Da" <fengd () utdallas edu> 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 ChinaThe 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>hereDa 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 () utdallas edu) <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 importance, promotes the university as an economic and innovation engine as well as further activates UTD's development as a world class university. In addition, the office is assigned with promoting the university's "knowledge" products and collaborating synergistically with corporations and governments locally, regionally, nationally and internationally to enhance the global vision and impact of science and technology.
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- TOEFL sees sharp drop in attendees in China Dave Farber (Dec 25)