Growth in numbers studying abroad slows

The growth in the number of Chinese students seeking to study overseas is slowing, education officials said.

In Shanghai, 10,234 students received study abroad visas in 2013, slightly less than the previous year's 10,442, according to Zhang Jin, an official from the Shanghai Education Commission.

Nationwide, the growth of students going abroad to study is slowing. In 2013, about 413,900 students went overseas to study, an increase of only 3.58 percent from 2012, according to the Ministry of Education.

"This reflects that Chinese people have become more rational in regard to studying abroad," Zong Huawei, an official from the Overseas Study Service Center under the Ministry of Education, was quoted by Shanghai Morning Post as saying.

In recent years, a number of the world's best-known higher education institutes established schools in China by partnering with Chinese education bodies, providing more options for Chinese parents and students seeking quality education. This partly slowed the pace of Chinese students heading overseas, education experts said.