Chinese visitors to the eurozone get much more for their money

Computer science major student Zhang Yuqing, 19, decided to quit her college in Beijing this year and apply to one of the grandes ecoles in France, an idea inspired by the weakening of the euro.

She will be making a big saving — at least 10,000 yuan ($1,587) a year.

The prestigious higher education institutions in France, to which she has applied, usually cost annually 100,000 yuan in tuition fees and another 100,000 yuan in living expenses, Zhang said. It takes a minimum of six years to complete the bachelor and master degrees she has been longing for.

"Given the high costs, any decrease in the euro is good news," said Zhang.

The sharp drop in the value of the euro will be a great encouragement to Chinese students pursuing higher education in eurozone countries, said Wang Yue, a tutor at Neworiental Corporation Beijing. She said the depreciation of the European currency has reduced tuition fees and living costs.

"Studying at the same school, the expenses are 20 percent lower than the year before," she said.

In European countries, most colleges charge no tuition fee.

The lowering exchange rate of the euro to the yuan will further reduce living expenses in Europe, said Wang Zhenyu, programmer officer of the European Union Delegation in China.

EU countries are one of the leading destinations for Chinese students studying abroad and the number of Chinese students in European schools is on the rise.

For example, Frank Hartmann, press counsellor of the German Embassy in Beijing, said because of the attractiveness of tertiary education at German universities in subjects such as science and engineering, over the last couple of years, the number of Chinese students in Germany has been increasing.

With 28,000 university students in Germany, Chinese students form the largest foreign student community in Germany, Hartmann said.

Currency movements are usually temporary. The real criteria for attracting students is academic excellence, which has a long-lasting effect, Wang of the EU Delegation said.

Chinese freshman Zhang Yuqing chose Europe over schools in China for a better education and more rosy employment prospects.

"Many of my classmates here spend too much time on social networking websites and do not have a clue what they will do afterward," Zhang said. "I want to be more prepared for a job when I graduate from college. I believe Paris can teach me that."

About 9.15 million people took the country's national college entrance exam last week, a decrease of 180,000 people compared with last year. It is the fourth consecutive reduction in the number of applicants since 2009, the Legal Evening News reported, quoting the data of the Ministry of Education.

Nearly 3 million high-school students in these four years decided against taking the exam, which started on Thursday, the paper said.

On the other hand, the number of Chinese studying overseas has grown in four consecutive years since 2008, an annual increase of more than 20 percent.

In 2011, the number reached a record high of 350,000 people, according to the 2012 National College Entrance Exam Report.

The report, published by eol.cn, has found that of those studying abroad in 2011, nearly half pursued a college education. It is estimated about 20 percent of these who gave up the national college entrance exam chose to study abroad, said the paper.

The same website published a report on trends of Chinese studying abroad in 2011, showing that the number of Chinese pursuing undergraduate education will continue to grow, taking up about 60 percent of the overall number of overseas Chinese students.

Difficulties in excelling in the national college entrance exam and doubts over the quality of college education on the Chinese mainland are held responsible for the increase in young Chinese students going abroad, professor Xiong Bingqi of Shanghai Jiao Tong University was quoted as saying by the Legal Evening News.

Tourism

Fewer European tourists may decide to spend their summer vacations in countries such as Greece because the ongoing eurozone crisis and political uncertainties have tightened wallets across Europe.

However, the surge in Chinese tourists to Europe this summer is offering a ray of sunshine amid the region's gloomy economic outlook.

"Our business catering for European tourists is shrinking but that has been offset by the fast-growing number of incoming Chinese tourists," said Chen Chaoying, general manager of travel agency Mandarin Voyages in Paris, France.

Travel companies in Europe expect the rising value of the Chinese currency against the euro will further boost tourism from China and the spending power of cash-rich Chinese tourists.