enoVate: What are the main reasons Chinese youth choose to study abroad?

Joe: There are as many reasons as there are students, but in my experience there are a few general, overarching categories:

First, there are kids who simply want the best education possible. These are super achievers (2200+ SAT, perfect SAT II’s, completed summer programs, musicians, artists, etc) who generally want to go to top 10 US schools. Their parents are usually very successful, and have high hopes for their children. If you get them into NYU early and they want to apply to Cornell. Get Cornell and they want Columbia. Get Columbia and they want Harvard. And if you get them into Harvard they want financial aid. These kids have been pushed and prodded to be #1 as long as they can remember.

Secondly, there are those who aren’t going to get a good enough GaoKao to get into a top 10 Chinese university. These tend to be lazier children of very successful business people who see study abroad as a way to get a fresh start.

Last, are those who want a bigger worldview. Sometimes it’s the kids, sometimes it’s the parents (and sometimes the parents just want to take their business global so they want the kids to speak English). This category varies quite a bit more since the students and parents usually don’t know as much about the US education system and the complexities and costs involved.

enoVate: Are more students leaving for High School as well?

Joe: We are seeing more and more interest in high school. Parents seem increasingly skeptical of the Chinese high school system where much importance is given to the GaoKao. Moreover, parents see American boarding schools as a way to help their children get into top 10 US schools. Parents are, nevertheless, reluctant to send away their children at so young an age.

enoVate: What are the main countries of interest when choosing to study abroad?

Joe: The United States is by far favored, with England and Australia tied for second. It may be that  the US education is seen as much better or simply that there are so many more Universities in America. Personally, I would guess it’s that there are more “name” schools that parents can be proud of (read: brag about).

enoVate: What is the largest factor in choosing universities abroad?

Joe: Ranking pretty much first, last and only. It’s impossible to explain the concept of “good fit” or “educational culture” to Chinese parents. They are paying top dollar for tuition, they want something to brag about.

enoVate: Regarding China’s current “brain drain,” is China’s emerging superpower status affecting decisions to work abroad versus working in China? Where does the greatest opportunity lie?

Joe: At least for the moment the brain drain is working in reverse as foreigners (like me) come to China to work. The Chinese who stay appear to do it for a couple reasons. One, they like the lifestyle abroad (Americanization through education), or two, they want more pedigree before returning (like working at MorganStanley in New York before returning to do finance in China).

enoVate: If a young Chinese person would like to study abroad, how does he or she go about doing this?

Joe: As an education consultant I mostly see people who use that route. The majority, numbers-wise go to agents like New Oriental who simply place students in less competitive colleges and take commissions from the schools on the tuition paid by the students. For people who go direct to schools, college fairs seem to be popular ways to get started.

To commemorate Earth Day, eno partnered with Greenovate to launch the NETI campaign. You see, NETI is a yeti. NETI the Yeti lives in the wilderness and survives off the land. The environment is NETI’s home. However, their home is in danger along with the rest of Earth. Something must be done to save it!

NETI has four colorful personalities to express his thoughts about planet Earth: Orange NETI feels the Earth is too hot, Blue NETI thinks that clean water is important, Green Neti strongly believes that trees are essential to life, Black NETI feels everyone should recycle and properly throw our their waste. Taking part in these four actions will help save planet Earth and NETI’s home!

Along with developing the NETI concept, eno designed eco-friendly T-Shirts and bio-degradable, cellulose cell phone charms that can be purchased on World Earth Day, June 5th to show your support for Neti and the enivornment. These are available in the four NETI colors, orange, green, blue, and black. Special hang-tags are included with the t-shirts that provide 3 ways to make a difference in the environment.

eno had a great presence and turn out yesterday at Greenovate’s Earth Day event. It was great to see both the local and foreign community of Shanghai interacting with NETI and creating their own personalized Neti messages.

eno and enoVate are extremely excited to promote their eco-friendly message to the youth of China. China’s youth has the ability make a huge difference in environmental change and we hope the NETI campaign is one of many steps in this process!

This is not a one time only event. eno is committed to their eco-friendly message and will be introducing additional eco-friendly products every few months. These products will be environmentally friendly and appeal to China’s youth.

Head over to enovatechina.com and eno.cn and greennovate.org for more exciting NETI information!