During the Golden Week holiday, a period marked with great enthusiasm as millions of Chinese citizens embark on international journeys, there emerged a trend that strayed from the usual tourist activities of museum visits, casino indulgences, or idle hours spent on sun-drenched beaches. Instead, an unexpected destination gained popularity among the vacationing Chinese populace—university campuses located in Singapore.
Many travel agencies in China were quick to recognize and exploit this burgeoning market. On Xiaohongshu, an app similar to Instagram but tailored for a Chinese audience, posts under the tag #SingaporeUniversityTourStrategy soared above 170,000. Advertisements for these specific tours started circulating widely across various digital platforms, including e-commerce giants like Taobao and tour-focused sites like 8Pig. Prices for such tours climbed as high as 2,388 yuan (approximately $340), with some agencies even extending the offer of consultancy services aimed at helping families settle in Singapore in the future.
However, this influx of eager visitors eventually caused significant disturbances at Singapore’s higher education institutions. The weeks leading up to Golden Week saw university campuses like those of the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) grappling with increased foot traffic. This led to an array of issues, from overcrowded buses and cafeterias to classroom disruptions, prompting students to air their grievances on platforms like Reddit. In response, NUS and NTU were forced to implement crowd control measures, restricting access to certain areas and, in NTU’s case, even introducing a fee for touring groups.
Despite these temporary inconveniences, the sustained interest in Singapore’s educational institutions highlights a significant shift in the preferences of Chinese parents. The allure of prestigious universities like NUS and NTU, both of which enjoy lofty positions in global rankings such as the QS World University Rankings, cannot be overstated. Factors such as Singapore’s lenient visa policies, geographical proximity, and affordability as a travel destination only add to its attractiveness. As Alice Zhang, a 35-year-old visitor to NUS with her two children during the Golden Week, put it, the pursuit was more about exposing her kids to the university with hopes that they might one day opt to study there, finding the academic pressure in China notably intense.
Singapore’s educational authorities, including the universities in question, have been somewhat reticent in divulging specific data regarding the nationality breakdown of their international student populations. Queries directed to them by media outlets like Bloomberg News were deferred to the country’s Ministry of Education, which referenced a parliamentary reply from 2022 indicating that international students constituted about 10% of the undergraduate demographic, without further nationality specifics.
Touring reputable universities is not a new phenomenon for Chinese families. This pastime has extended across seasons, with families flocking to top-tier Chinese institutions like Peking University and Tsinghua University during vacations, and travel tours to the US often including stops at prestigious Ivy League schools. Oscar Du, a Master’s student at NTU who conducts tours priced at 300 yuan per person, reported encountering mostly middle-class families, particularly from Shanghai, with children in primary school. He observed a keen interest among these families in sparking an early affection for these institutions amongst their children, aiming to motivate future applications.
In conclusion, while the notion of spending holiday time touring foreign universities may seem unconventional to some, for Chinese families, it represents a strategic investment in their children’s educational futures. This phenomenon has not only impacted the logistical handling of university visits in Singapore but has also fostered a unique cultural exchange and business opportunity—underscoring the lengths to which parents will go to ensure the best for their children. Amidst crowded campus tours and the buzzing activity of family groups discussing futures possibly spent in Singaporean lecture halls, there lies a deeper story of aspiration, familial sacrifice, and the global pursuit of educational excellence.
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