The majority of Chinese parents planning to send their children abroad to study are senior or higher-level leaders of industry and business, a white paper on overseas study found.

Released by Vision Overseas, a Beijing-based study consultancy under the New Oriental Education & Technology Group on Thursday, the paper polled more than 700 parents.

Forty-two percent were shown to be senior leaders and 20 percent heads of their companies, enterprises or organizations, indicating that many parents wishing their children to study abroad are successful with the financial capability to support them.

"Regardless of which field or sector they are working in, sending children abroad has become a consensus among parents," the paper said.

Statistics from the Ministry of Education show that about 460,000 Chinese went to study abroad last year while the number in 2000 was just 39,000.

The change can also be seen in the low proportion - 5 percent - of parents polled to have studied abroad themselves.

"Many of these parents were born in the 1960s or 1970s, and opportunities to study abroad were scarce because of the social and economic conditions in China at that time," the paper said.

Having no experience of studying abroad themselves does not affect parents' appreciation of overseas education, nor does it reduce their intention to send their children overseas.