MORE and more high school students are skipping China's grueling national college entrance exam and instead studying English and applying to foreign universities. Xu Wenwen reports.

This is the time of year when high school sophomore and juniors hit the books, not for basic course work, but to prepare for the notoriously difficult national college entrance exam (gaokao) at the end of the third and final year.

But some are taking a different course, English, and plan to skip the test and apply to universities overseas.

The exact numbers are not known, but the Ministry of Education is no longer releasing numbers of high school graduates not taking the exam, instead it publishes the number of exam takers. The Beijing News estimates that this year it's up to 1 million - last year it was 840,000; and estimated 20 percent of those went abroad.

The figures last year ignited a heated debate about the quality of Chinese education.

The reasons are many: chances of a perceived better life overseas; the allure of a foreign diploma that many (often incorrectly) believe will open all doors in China; the increased ease of traveling overseas; the welcome from foreign universities to Chinese students; the stronger Chinese currency; the higher rankings of some foreign universities.

There's also a serious job shortage in the country for all the thousands and thousands of college graduates with high aspirations - and many Chinese universities and colleges, like factories, grind out graduates.

Maria Jin just entered her sophomore year at one of Hangzhou's best high schools, but she is working on IELTS (International English Language Testing Service), rather than the national exam. She expects to study abroad.

She says an increasing number of students at her school are opting for foreign universities; last year 30 graduates attended schools abroad.

It's happening around China.

Three months ago, a key school in Chongqing, the Bashu Middle School, became the center of media attention when all 29 students in one third-year class skipped the national exam and applied overseas.

Not long ago, Chinese students tended to go abroad for master's and doctoral degrees, but recently high school graduates, and even younger students, are going abroad.

"Many parents believe the earlier the advanced education, the sooner kids improve," says Ye Jin, teaching director of New Field Education Group, a school and agency in Hangzhou assisting in foreign studies and overseas settlement.

More and more parents are telling their children to apply to foreign high schools or universities; if they go in high school they will adapt more quickly to local culture and environment, parents hope.

Some middle schools in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai have opened special "studying abroad classes." Many private schools offer the classes as well.

Most of these classes are set up in cooperation with foreign colleges, provide almost all of this kind of class are in cooperation with foreign colleges, providing IELTS or TOFEL(Test of English as a Second Language) courses, Western Advanced Placement courses, and A-Levels (the gold standard of the UK education system).

Private study

Jin, who is studying for IELTS, says she needs a score of at least 5.5 (the total is 9) to get into college preparatory courses at Sydney University, her favorite. When she passes that course, she will be formally enrolled as a college freshman.

Admission requirements vary, but all require proof of English-language proficiency and preparatory courses (or Advanced Placement or A-Levels).

"Taking TOFEL or IELTS is hard, but gaokao is harder," says Jin, adding that the pressure in study and performance is crippling. The two-day test is still the sole determinant for admission to virtually all Chinese colleges and universities, though some have alternative tests.

Since gaokao is offered just once a year in June, the month is called "Black June." Around three in five students pass, those who fail or miss the exam usually have to wait until the following June.

Another reason students choose foreign higher education is the relatively higher rankings of overseas institutions, compared with Chinese schools.

In the 2010-11 Times Higher Education's list of the world's top universities, China, with one-fifth of the world's population, has only six universities in the top 200. Peking University, considered China's No. 1, ranks 37.

By contrast, the United States has 72 universities on the list and the UK has 29.

"I only want to go to a top university," says Linda Li, a girl in a college prep class in a top Hangzhou high school. She has halted her high school education and concentrates on IELTS. She's aiming for those UK universities that outrank Peking University.

It is well known that in China, the hardest-working students are generally in high school, not college, where they think they have it made, their diploma ensuring a good future.

By contrast, in many Western countries, college is where many people do their hardest and best work, or they flunk out.

But the rankings don't mean that Chinese colleges teach badly, or foreign colleges teach well, says Gu Xiaoming, an education specialist and psychology professor at Fudan University.

"To be a better school not only depends on the teaching but also the benign social environment in the whole country," he says. "China is improving its education, however, it has not reached the core - to protect, educate and provide welfare to children from three levels, society, family and school.

"We currently manage education like a business, but what we need to do is to set up an excellent educational system similar to that in the West and revive traditional culture," Gu says.

Some students are studying for both English proficiency tests and the college entrance exam.

Last week Jia Cheng, manager of New Field Education in Hangzhou, met five college freshmen who are considering going abroad.

"It's common to see college freshmen change their mind, especially at every beginning of the fall semester," says Jia. "It's mainly because of an unsatisfactory major or unsatisfactory school."

Wang Cheng (not his real name) entered a fairly good local college as a freshman this semester. But he dropped out and began studying for the English proficiency test. He doesn't like his math major but his marks weren't good enough to study finance.

Now he hopes to go to Australia and study economy and finance.

Although advanced higher education is accessible to Chinese nowadays, many students are psychologically frail, says Jia, who himself just returned from Sydney University with a bachelor's degree.

Psychologically frail

He says he saw a great number of depressed Chinese students there. Those who had been well sheltered in China feel lonely and homesick; some lack discipline and get distracted overseas; some still have problems with English and the course work.

Liu Dong (not her real name) went to a UK high school three years ago after two years of high school in Hangzhou. But she couldn't graduate because she only passed two courses among six in her two years of study there. She returned to China to work on her English and hopes to try again for a college prep course overseas.

"It happens all the time," says Soso Xie from New School Education. "Some students have to take proficiency tests again and again, and some have to take preparatory courses repeatedly until they pass.

"We strongly advise parents against foreign schooling for kids who are not ready to start a new life in another country," Xie says.

She also says young applicants should learn how to take care of themselves and be independent and responsible before leaving home for another country.