Let the Chinese students in

As thousands upon thousands of Chinese students go overseas to study at universities and English language schools in other countries, their number is going down dramatically in Malta, and Government, totally paralysed in moving forward, has clamped down on granting visas to Chinese students instead of taking vigorous initiatives to attract more Chinese students to Malta.

Last year we had 116 Chinese students at the University of Malta; and 1,390 Chinese came to study English at one of our English language schools. These numbers can grow if we were to take co-ordinated action between Government, University and English language schools.

This is what other countries are doing. The Times Higher Education Supplement of April 8 reported that the total number of Chinese nationals studying in the UK stood at 47,740 in 2003-04. The number of Chinese students taking courses in English language schools in the UK reached 70,000. The British Council's objective is to attract 130,000 Chinese students every year to study English in the UK.

The UK council for international education wants the government to redouble its recruitment efforts in China. During a visit to China last February, Chancellor Gordon Brown announced two initiatives to make the UK a more attractive study destination. Chinese students would be allowed to stay in the UK to work for a year after they had graduated. The UK Government would be extending scholarship schemes for Chinese students.

What is the Maltese government doing to promote Malta as a study destination? Nothing. As other countries take initiatives to attract students from all over the world, the way the Maltese government is handling the granting of visas of its message is students from non-European Union countries are not welcome in Malta. Educational establishments are told: look for new markets!

We are lagging behind

The new attractive and growth markets for students are mainly from Asia. The Higher Educational Statistics Agency (HESA) lists China as the first source of international students in the UK. The other nine top sources are India, the United States, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, Nigeria, Taiwan and Pakistan.

France does not want to be left behind in the fierce competition among different countries promoting themselves as study destinations. There are over 40,000 Chinese students following courses at French universities. Last February France participated with its best universities and grandes ecoles in a road-show held in the main cities of China by 350 European universities all trying to seduce the tens of thousands of Chinese students who want to study at overseas universities.

The French Embassy in Beijing is very active distributing information about the wide range of subjects Chinese students can follow in universities and other higher educational institutions spread all over France. While other European universities move quickly to attract Chinese students, our university is gripped by inertia.

A former Chinese ambassador told me last March in Beijing that he had sent the papers of Chinese students wanting to study at the University of Malta, more than three weeks had passed and he still had not heard anything from the University's International Office.

Holland and Ireland are also taking strong action to attract more Chinese students to study at their institutions. Even tiny Estonia is doing its bit to entice Chinese students. Germany has 40,000 Chinese students at its universities while Italy has 600 and wants to bring them up to 2,000 by next year.

Italy has very slow and draconian bureaucratic procedures to grant visas to Chinese students. No wonder other European countries in their bid to attract more Chinese students to them are overtaking them. We must not let the Italian authorities intimidate us and dissuade us from working hard to attract Chinese students to Malta.

Other governments do not hesitate to give their educational establishments a leading edge by also easing obstacles for border crossing and visa facilitation. We must strive hard to stamp out illegal human trafficking from China using Malta as a stepping-stone to other countries. But this must not deter us from working hard to have thousands of Chinese students following courses in our country.

evaristbartolo@hotmail.com