Chongqing observations and numbers: studies, students and life on campus

We visit our partner school in Chongqing twice a year to introduce their students to service design tools and thesis writing. Each visit to the city and campus leaves us captivated by the fascinating numbers and cultural phenomena we encounter. On every visit, we make observations of the similarities and differences between studies, students and campuses as well as life in general in China and Finland.

Tertiary education terms and statistics

Education is traditionally highly regarded in China. The country is now focusing on STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education, and is making strides in Artificial Intelligence (AI), with DeepSeek disrupting the global world of AI and technology (Li 6.2.2025).

In China, the employment rate of STEM graduates has been very high, close to 90 % (Textor 27.11.2024). The students that we teach at Chongqing University of Science and Technology (CQUST) are STEM students majoring in engineering and logistics. We also teach STEM students at Haaga-Helia: in our degree programme STEM stands for sustainable tourism and event management.

Chinese universities are climbing on global university rankings, with Tsinghua University (12th) and Peking University (13th) right after the UK and US heavyweights on Times Higher Education (2025) ranking. For comparison, the first Finnish unversity on the list is University of Helsinki (107th).

For many people around the world, university education is still the most obvious way for upward mobility. Currently, 43 % of Finnish and 19 % of Chinese 25-34 year-olds have a tertiary education (OECD 2024). China has the world’s largest education system with over 3,000 higher education institutions (Ministry of Education in China 2022), while Finland (Study In Finland 2025) has approximately around 1 % of that number. The sheer numbers often make our heads spin: everything is on such a bigger scale in China.

Both China and Finland are aging rapidly. The work force is shrinking and the dependency ratio is getting higher. In Finland, the retirement age is flexible, with most people retiring around the age of 65 (Finnish Centre for Pensions s.a.). In China, our female colleagues at the university retire at 58, male colleagues can work 5 more years. The retirement age went up by 3 years just this year, having remained the same since the 1950s (Ng 13.9.2024).

Campus figures

When we first came to the CQUST campus, we were overwhelmed by the number of students and the vast area of the campus. It reminded us of a town. And yes, the campus is located in University Town, which has several universities and campuses – even bigger than the one where we teach and stay. High-rise dormitories, canteens, sports arenas, jogging tracks, beautiful parks and ponds adorn the campus. On a typical day on campus, walking between the apartment, class room and canteen, it is easy to get 10,000 steps.

There are 20,000 students at CQUST, making it almost twice as big as Haaga-Helia. The number of academic staff is 1,500 against Haaga-Helia’s 720 experts. The student-staff ratio is thus about the same.

As there are 14 universities in Chongqing University Town, its population is around 200,000 people, making it as big as many Finnish cities. However, it is just a suburb of Chongqing, which has a total population of around 32-34 million, with 11 million living in the city itself. (Gandolfi 27.4.2025; National Bureau of Statistics of China 11.5.2021.) It is with awe one stays in such a hub of academic life.

Digits for the tech-savvy students

Chinese students work very hard on their studies, and are well on their way to the ‘996’ work culture of technology companies, i.e., working from 9 am to 9 pm on 6 days a week (SCMP Reporters 11.7.2021). An intriguing insight from the official course feedback reveals that when asked how they would improve the course, most Chinese respondents focus on self-improvement, while all Finnish students suggest enhancements in teaching methods or content.

When first starting to work with the Chinese students, we studied cultural considerations. For instance, according to Hofstede’s dimensions, there are huge differences between Finnish and Chinese cultures especially in power distance, collectivism and long term orientation (The Culture Factor Group 2025). We have noticed that communication is very implicit and indirect, and building relationships is key to establish trust (eSignals Design sprint goes China – Cultural lessons learnt).

The students use their mobile devices to communicate with us in English, even when we are there in person. This addition to the human communication is an interesting one, a particularly Chinese phenomenon. The Chinese use their phones for everything, e.g., making orders and payments, opening car doors and getting around, communicating and finding information. Finland is known as a high-tech society, but China and its tech-loving students are from another planet altogether.

We have observed that mobile devices have become almost like additional organs to many students, and life without them simply does not exist. Chinese students often express their feelings by using the numbers 666 to signify that everything is going smoothly (Hobbs 15.1.2025). It took us a while to get a grip of these important figures and their meaning.

Additional numbers for life and culture in China

There are also other vital numbers worth noting when visiting China. We initially thought the local grocery store was stocked with expired food because all the dates seemed to be in the past. Finally, it dawned on us that these dates actually referred to the time of manufacturing.

It is important to read between the lines, as even numbers and figures can often carry a symbolic meaning that is something very different than in our own culture. The interpretations can vary from culture to culture depending on the social context, history and religion. There are also differences between generations.

Although we know that the number four is considered unlucky (because its pronounciation in Chinese sounds like the word death), we have not noticed anything amiss with that number. There is a fourth floor in our apartment building, for example. In any case, the afterlife also has its important numbers. When we visited a World Heritage site in Chongqing, the Dazu Rock Carvings with some 10,000 statues, we learnt from our guide that there are 18 hells and 9 heavens in ancient mythology (Ma 18.1.2021). The stories, symbols and styles of the site combined the teachings of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism in perfect harmony (UNESCO 2025).

The last startling number comes from the airport. The megacity that makes up to half of the world’s laptops (Zhan 8.1.2024; Gandolfi 27.4.2025) has a surprisingly few flights abroad. Currently, no European airline flies to Chongqing. With the Russian airspace off-limits to most airlines, we have to travel around 19 hours via Doha to get home. When we leave Chongqing through the Jiangbei Airport (CKG), we are always stunned at how few international flights there are for a hub of almost 50 million annual passengers (Airports Data.net 28.3.2025).

As the numbers we encounter in Chongqing are so enormous, it is crucial to check and verify our observations with sources. On our upcoming visits, we will keep our senses open for new (digit) discoveries!

Picture: Shutterstock