Nearly 700 foreign students have defied severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and applied to study at Beijing Language and Culture University from June to September.
The number of new students fell slightly from the same period of last year owing to the SARS outbreak, said a source from the university's overseas students department.
The university plans to reopen courses for foreign students on June 20, the source said.
Beijing Language and Culture University has about 6,000 foreign students enrolled from over 100 countries and regions, more than any other Chinese university.
Foreign students at the university who wanted to leave Beijing were allowed to ask for leave, suspend their schooling or drop out when SARS broke out in the city.
The overseas students department said 85 percent of the foreign students left China temporarily and have stayed in contact with the school. Only a tiny percentage dropped out, the department said.
More than 400 foreign students stayed in the university.
(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2003)
