It’s a good point. Buy I also wonder if there’s a sampling bias: those from other cultures who attend western universities may be more likely to have more westernized values?
Id agree with the caveat that “elite” may be the status that anybody, regardless of culture, are drawn towards. Maybe we need a tighter definition of what you mean?
Have you considered that maybe metriculative education systems, and the prestige- and status-seeking behaviors they invoke, aren’t exclusively Western at all?
You might give “The Scholars” a read: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scholars_(novel)
tl;dr (it really is quite long): Famous/influential Qing-era comedy novel about “successful” scholars in the Chinese imperial education system, with much of its humor revolving around their prestige- and status-seeking behaviors. (And lots of fart and poop jokes.)