American universities are setting up campuses on the mainland

In the world of higher education, the American model is much sought after by Chinese students, who flock to the country in droves every year to study at its top universities. Now, US institutions are leading the charge in setting up campuses on the mainland, bringing a liberal touch to a traditionally rigid system.

"The more Chinese students hear about the US education system, the more they want to be a part of it," says Nini Suet, the CEO of Shang Consultancy, a business that helps Chinese students prepare and adjust to life abroad.

The system, she says, does not prepare students for life after university. "After the intensity of the [university entrance exams] people relax in university and don't do much. Many feel like the university years are wasted and come out not knowing what they want to do with their lives," she says.

So far, 26 non-Chinese institutions have set up branch campuses in on the mainland, according to data gathered by the Cross-Border Education Research Team (C-Bert) at the State University of New York at Albany. US institutions have the highest number of campuses, at 11, followed by Britain with four and Germany with three.

C-Bert defines a branch campus as an institution owned in part by a foreign education provider that takes part in face-to-face teaching and provides access to an entire academic programme that leads to a credential awarded by the foreign education provider.

"I've heard folks say certain forms of education are far too specialised. You don't have that broad sensibility to move into another sphere of knowledge," says Laurie Patton, dean of Duke University's Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. "So you're 45 and realise you don't know anything about art, or engineering, or another field."