Since 1950 China has provided nine-year compulsory education for a fifth of the world's population with only two percent of the world's total education spend. It has the world's largest number of people receiving education, over 300 million. Net elementary school enrollment has reached 99 percent, and gross enrollment rates in junior high schools, senior high schools, and higher learning institutions are 95 percent, 53 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Nine-year compulsory education operates in over 95 percent of China's populated areas, illiteracy in the young and middle-aged population is under four percent, and education in China has reached the average level for middle-income countries.
China's educational horizons are expanding. Before 1990, the MBA degree (Master of Business Administration) was virtually unknown, but by 2005 there were over 50,000 MBAs trained at 62 MBA schools. Many apply for international professional qualifications, such as EMBA and MPA; close to 10,000 MPA students are enrolled in 47 institutions of higher learning, including Peking University and Tsinghua University. The education market has rocketed, with training and testing for professional qualifications, such as computer and foreign languages, thriving. Continuing education is the trend; once in one's life schooling has become lifelong learning.
International cooperation and education exchanges increase every year. China has more students studying abroad than any other country. Since 1979, there have been more than 700,000 Chinese students studying in 103 countries and regions, of whom nearly 200,000 have returned after finishing their studies. The number of foreign students studying in China has also increased rapidly; in 2004, over 110,000 students from 178 countries were studying at Chinese universities.
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