The 22-year-old accountancy student Ko Ko Kyaw from Myanmar who is studying at Shanghai’s Jiaotong University is part of a growing number of Southeast Asian students who have chosen to pursue their higher education in China. 

“I got interested in China after attending a summer camp in Kunming,” recalled Ko Ko Kyaw in perfect mandarin. Kunming, which borders Myanmar, is a city in Yunnan Province in China’s southwest. 

“China and Myanmar have many joint ventures, providing more job opportunities. My experience in China will give me an advantage when applying for a job back home,” he told Channel NewsAsia. 

For many of these Southeast Asian students, a degree earned in China can lead to better job prospects at home as China and Southeast Asia forge closer economic ties. 

Students from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) now form the biggest group of foreign students studying in China’s higher education institutes, overtaking South Koreans.

Elsewhere, student numbers from the United States, the third largest group, saw a dip in the same period.

But the key reason why more students are choosing China is the availability of generous scholarships from the Chinese government awarded as part of the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative which is the country’s flagship foreign policy to strengthen trade, social and political links with Southeast Asia. 

China is said to have set aside 23 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion) for such scholarships in 2016, said Lucian Koh, Managing Director of Singapore Success Stories, a consultancy that designs education programmes. Clients for Singapore Success Stories include sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

“China can post these talents who have graduated from here back into their respective home countries to develop infrastructure, financial services, logistics services for China,” said Mr Koh. 

“For China to be more accepted in the global community in terms of its rise as a new superpower, it starts with people,” he added. “In Chinese, they call them 'Zhihua Youhua' students which means (students) who know China and are friendly to China which these graduates will be the best ambassadors for the country.”

Koh estimates that eight to nine out of every ten foreign students in China receive some form of funding from the Chinese government.