Fifty-three qualified Chinese universities and colleges were approved Friday to receive overseas students sponsored by foreign governments, sources with the Ministry of Education said.

 

On Friday, the China Scholarship Council (CSC), an official organization in charge of the foreign students' affairs, signed a contract with the 53 schools in group, thus kicking off a new program of cultivating overseas students.

 

Chinese Minister of Education Zhou Ji said at the signing ceremony that the CSC has joined hands with foreign governments and organizations to introduce in overseas students with foreign governmental scholarships, and encourage them to study for bachelor, master or doctor degrees. "The move will improve the quality of overseas students in China, and promote the image of the Chinese higher educational institutes," Zhou said.

 

Zhou noted China has become an important destination for overseas students, as students from more than 170 countries study in more than 500 Chinese universities and colleges. Since 1999, overseas students to China annually increased by 20 percent. In 2004, overseas students in China exceeded 110,000, of whom 28.52 percent are students studying for bachelor, master or doctor degrees.

 

In 2006, China will increase the government sponsorship for overseas students, thus increasing the number of overseas students to China to 10,000 from the original 6,700.

 

Chinese universities attending the program include the Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Sichuan University, Harbin Polytechnic University, Beijing Normal University, etc. Most of them are first-class universities in China.

 

Governments of Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, Tanzania and Rwanda also agreed to join the program.

 

Zhou expressed his hope that the program could help cultivate foreign talents who know well about China and the Chinese culture.

 

The CSC revealed that it will mobilize local enterprises to set up special sponsorships for overseas students, who can serve the company after study in China.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2006)