"The cost for overseas high school is high, but I think that's a helpful way for children to receive different education modes and adapt to various environments," said Wang Yun, who said she planned to send her son to study at a US high school.

The case for dads

100 books for young readers

The latest figures from the Ministry of Education showed that 413,900 Chinese students studied abroad last year, an increase of 3.58 percent from the previous year. The number is forecast to reach 500,000 this year.

Meanwhile, the number of students who will go abroad to study at a younger age also will increase, experts said.

According to the Open Doors Report on international educational exchanges, which is published annually by the US Institute of International Education, in the 2012-13 academic year, 235,597 Chinese students studied in the US, and 39.8 percent of them were undergraduates. Both figures represent an increase over the previous year.