More and more countries are opening the doors of their prestigious universities to Chinese students, attempting to pit their education sectors as a lucrative business against the huge market in China.

The trend could be discerned at the 2005 China International Education Exhibition held Sunday in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.

According to the organizing committee, more than 300 famous universities and colleges from 20-odd countries, such as Britain, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, attended the event.

At the exhibition, 10 education institutes from Singapore announced that they would recruit students in Wuhan, involving 20-plus disciplines, such as business management, marketing, mass media, biology and medicine and accounting.

The 15-year-old Canadian International School in Singapore established a Canadian Institute of Learning this year to absorb Chinese students studying abroad.

"We will enroll 40 high-school graduates in China next year. The Chinese education market is the biggest one in the world, to which the Singaporean government is paying much attention," said Mei Yayun, who is in charge of the enrollment in China.

Another 12 education institutes from other countries, including Britain, Germany, France and Australia, also claimed they will hold exhibitions and conferences in such Chinese cities as Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai to woo Chinese students.

"China is a country that attaches great importance to children's education," said Max Garrard, who is in charge of overseas students in Blackburn School from Melbourne, Australia.

"Chinese parents spare no expenses to help their children learn English. And speaking and writing in English have become indispensable preconditions for those working people who intend to find a job in foreign-funded enterprises and institutes."

"This provides we foreign education institutes with good chances to enter the Chinese market," Max Garrard added.

As a matter of fact, many educational institutes have held various conferences to show their educational achievements and to explain how to get a visa and address other problems related to studying abroad. These activities have attracted a lot of Chinese students and parents.

The number of Chinese students studying abroad has been climbing quickly in recent years. From 1978 to 2003, 700,000 Chinese students went abroad. Last year alone, the figure was reached 450,000.

"More and more foreign education institutes come to China to set up schools," said Tang Xuefeng, vice headmaster of Beijing Aidi School which has sent over 1,600 students to Australia, Canada, Britain, the US, New Zealand and other nations.

More than 270 educational institutes have been set up across China, including universities, middle schools, primary schools and kindergartens, according to Tang.

Meanwhile, intermediate organs devoted to helping Chinese students go abroad for educations have numbered more than 1,000, up from 100 several years ago.

"Along with the termination of restrictions on foreigners' launching schools in China in 2006, the nation's education sector will be challenged by its peers from abroad for a certain period of time to come," said Tang Xuefeng.

(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2005)