On International Chinese Education Index Ranking in a Global Perspective

The prominence of the Chinese language as a United Nations official language has sparked significant interest, leading to this research on international Chinese education (ICE). This study has a triple aim: firstly, to create indicators for monitoring ICE; secondly, to use these indicators to assess ICE development across nations; and thirdly, to highlight disparities and potential influencing factors for informed policy-making.

To facilitate indicator creation, we introduce an ICE index ranking system, evaluating 24 aspects grouped into three dimensions: Localization, Specialization, and Collaboration. These dimensions further categorize the 24 aspects into seven level-2 indicators, providing insights into global Chinese language education. After a thorough literature review and considering data availability, these indicators rank ICE in 153 countries.

For evaluation, we objectively assess indicators by assigning weights based on expert opinions. The results demonstrate that the categorized and ranked indicators offer valuable insights into global ICE development. Cluster analysis reveals diverse patterns of ICE development, with distinct areas requiring improvement across nations.

To illustrate further, we conduct a correlation analysis using an external dataset encompassing five main components: Economic Ties, Geographical Distance, Cultural Ties, Government Policies, and China's Image. The findings indicate that countries with strong economic ties to China tend to excel in all three ICE dimensions. Additionally, nations with higher numbers of tourists visiting China generally achieve higher ICE scores.