Shanghai Skyline
Source: BBC
China has been building the equivalent of almost one university per week.
It is part of a silent revolution that is causing a huge shift in the composition of the world’s population of graduates.
For decades, the United States had the highest proportion of people going to university. They dominated the graduate market.
Reflecting this former supremacy, among 55 to 64 year olds almost a third of all graduates in the world’s major economies are US citizens.
But that is changing rapidly among younger generations. In terms of producing graduates, China has overtaken the United States and the combined university systems of European Union countries.
Image copyrightGetty ImagesThe gap is going to become even wider. Even modest predictions see the number of 25 to 34-year-old graduates in China rising by a further 300% by 2030, compared with an increase of around 30% expected in Europe and the United States.
In the United States, students have been struggling to afford university costs. In Europe, most countries have put a brake on expanding their universities by either not making public investments or not allowing universities to raise money themselves.
But if the West has been sleeping, China and other Asian countries such as India have raced ahead.
It isn’t simply about bigger student numbers. Students in China and India are much more likely to study mathematics, sciences, computing and engineering – the subjects most relevant to innovation and technological advance.
More stories from the BBC’s Global education series looking at education from an international perspective and how to get in touch
In 2013, 40% of Chinese graduates completed their studies in a Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) subject – more than twice the share of US graduates.
So the graduates who are the cornerstone of economic prosperity in knowledge-based economies are increasingly disproportionately likely to come from China and India.
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December 2011 Alislam-eGazette: A watershed moment for China: Islam or Christianity?
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and on every university campus should be a Mosque – education isn’t education without religion or spirituality there to balance it out.