CHINA sent a record number of 340,000 students offshore last year to pursue a degree at an overseas institution.

Official ministry of education figures released yesterday show that 12,800 were sponsored by the government, 12,000 were sponsored by their work organisation, with the remaining 315,000 self-funding their studies.

The MoE website says this represents 55,000 more people -- or nearly 20 per cent -- than in 2010.

At the same time, Australia has seen a 15 per cent decline in Chinese students opting to come to Australia each year for two consecutive years.

``Australia is now an expensive destination for international students,'' Chris Madden, deputy vice-chancellor (international) told the HES recently.

``It is unlikely that the chief cause of that -- the high Australian dollar -- will drop below parity in the next few years, as investors are clearly more inclined to invest in the Australian dollar, rather than the euro and US dollar.''

The ministry calculates that since the government commenced its reform and openness program in 1978, 2.2 million people have received an undergraduate or postgraduate education at an overseas institution.

It estimates that 1.1 million are currently overseas.

An Australian embassy spokesman in Beijing told the HES any positive effects from the recent review by former Olympics minister into student visas were unlikely to be felt until at least semester two this year and more likely semester one in 2013.

“It is likely to be one to two years before the full impact is felt,'' the embassy spokesman said.