Beijing’s massive education investments have helped to create dozens of elite institutions, pushing Chinese universities up the global rankings.
China’s ascent has been underpinned by heavy spending in science and technology: Chinese STEM graduates outnumber US ones by more than eight to one. Quality is up too. Beijing’s so-called genius program now recruits 100,000 talented teenagers every year, often fast-tracking their education through to the end of tertiary education.
Rising anti-Chinese sentiment in the US has also fed the return of some of the country’s brightest minds. One American researcher said the trend was not coincidental: “It’s not a ‘mystery bounce’ but the result of three decades of sustained, targeted investment,” he told the Financial Times.
