"AI Shakes Up China’s $220 Million College Admissions Market by Designing Application Strategies"

Surge in AI Demand After China's Gaokao Results
Tens of Millions Turn to Big Tech's Platforms
Hope for Narrowing the Gap in High-Priced Consulting

This year, a significant number of students and parents taking part in China's national university entrance exam reportedly turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to devise their application strategies.

A student is reading a book before entering the school on the day of the Gaokao exam held last month in Beijing, China. Photo by AFP Yonhap News

According to a report by Yonhap News on July 13, citing the South China Morning Post (SCMP), demand for AI surged nationwide immediately after the results of the Gaokao—the Chinese equivalent of Korea's Suneung—were released at the end of last month. This year, 12.9 million students took the Gaokao, and their scores play a crucial role in determining university admission.

The usage figures released by China's three major big tech companies support this trend. Alibaba announced that, as of the end of June, more than 14 million users had utilized the college application agent embedded in its AI assistant Qwen. Baidu reported that approximately 15 million people used its AI-powered university application assistant. Tencent also stated that its chatbot Yuanbao had answered around 80 million college-related queries.

Previously in China, it was common for middle-class families to entrust professional consultants with their children’s application strategies. The SCMP pointed out that as AI has become more widely used by those who could not previously afford such services due to financial constraints, it is now helping both working-class and middle-class families compete on a fairer footing.

A parent living in Guangzhou said, “In China’s complex university entrance process, where you need to understand vast amounts of information about universities and majors, AI may not match a human expert, but it has been quite helpful.” Zhang Qi, who has a son taking the exam, added, “We are busy making a living and can’t help our child much. In the past, we only knew about universities near our home, but now AI can tell us the chances of getting into any department at any university nationwide.”

The Gaokao exam site held last month in Beijing, China. Photo by AP Yonhap News

There have been ongoing concerns in China that unequal access to the high-priced consulting market exacerbates educational inequality. The company founded by the star instructor Zhang Xuefeng, who popularized online admissions consulting, offered counseling products last year priced between 12,999 yuan (about 2.87 million won) and 18,999 yuan (about 4.2 million won), and reportedly, slots in many regions sold out soon after launch.

According to a recent report by iMedia Research, the Chinese university admissions consulting market exceeded 1 billion yuan (about 220 billion won) last year and is expected to grow to 1.22 billion yuan (about 270 billion won) by 2027.

This report did not account for the variable of AI admissions agents. With rapidly advancing AI models emerging as a key factor in the market, there are growing expectations that these could disrupt the consulting industry, which is valued at over 200 billion won. In fact, as AI agents gain popularity, some companies have begun lowering their consulting fees. Consultant Wu Rui in Guangzhou reportedly reduced the price of a standard counseling package from 5,000 yuan (about 1.11 million won) to 2,999 yuan (about 660,000 won) recently. However, SCMP noted that since the quality of AI responses can vary depending on users' ability to write and interpret prompts, it will be difficult for AI to completely eliminate existing inequalities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.