China's low birthrate in the past years is beginning to take its toll on its higher education.

Statistics from the annual investigation report on higher education enrollment show that the number of applicants for the annual national college entrance examination decreased by 2 million from 2008 to 2010. The report says that it will continue to decline until 2020. The figure reached a peak of 10.5 million in 2008.

It contrasts strikingly with the rapid expansion of the country's higher learning in the past couple of decades. The total number of institutions of higher learning has grown to more than 1,700 from less than 100 in 1978 when the national college entrance examinations were restored after the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976).