China to Replace US as Global Higher Education Top Superpower?

Here's a BBC article from Mike Baker, who believes that current trends indicate that China will knock the US out of the global higher education top "superpower" spot:

Consider some of the facts. China is now the largest higher education system in the world: it awards more university degrees than the US and India combined.

Of course, this is partly a matter of the sheer size of its population. But it is not just that. The rate of university expansion has been beyond anything anyone in the West can easily imagine.

University enrolments in China have reportedly risen from under 10% of young people in 1999 to over 21% in 2006, a phenomenally fast expansion.

And here is a collection of PowerPoint presentations from the 2nd International Conference in World-Class Universities (Shanghai), which we believe is the conference that Baker is referencing in his article.