This is certainly a busy time of year for all of us at WebsEdge. Our work in conference television takes us all round the world. We’ve already been to Denver, Chicago, Edinburgh and London this month. And this week sees us at the China Education Expo 2009 in Beijing.

This is our first conference in China and has certainly been an eye opener. The numbers alone are staggering. There are hundreds of universities here from all over the world and the doors opened yesterday to some 30, 000 students. And as this Expo visits five Chinese cities there are plenty of logistics to get your head around.

And what of the television programmes themselves. Well there are obviously some differences. Everything has to be translated into both languages of course but apart from that the processes are pretty similar. So far so good.

But there are major differences in the content of the programmes. Everywhere we’ve been this year the discussions have focused on dealing with the recession. But not here. It’s still all about growth. Particularly in the education sector, because the Chinese have targeted good education as a means of gaining competitive advantage and there seems to be no letting up in that approach.

But how can students, and their parents, afford this expensive education, especially as incomes remain considerably lower than in the western world? It comes down to saving and investment. Families save a considerable portion of their incomes and they see education as an investment in the family’s future. Perhaps that’s a lesson we could all learn from.