Foreign Students in China

BEIJING - The number of foreign students in China has risen dramatically, hitting a record high of more than 260,000 in 2010, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Thursday.


A total of 265,090 foreign students from 194 countries came that year to study in China's 620 universities, research institutes and educational institutions, the ministry said.

The number had been 240,000 the year before, according to the ministry.

The ministry said it plans to use cooperative educational programs to draw 500,000 foreign students to China by 2020.

The central government provided 800 million yuan ($121.7 million) in scholarships to such students in 2010 and local governments offered about 110 million yuan in scholarships, according to Zhang Xiuqin, director of the department of international cooperation and exchange under the MOE.

The government scholarship benefited a total of 22,390 international students last year. That was 22.7 percent more than had been helped in 2009.

Although the majority of the foreign students enrolled in Chinese schools last year came from Asian countries, the number of students from Western countries increased, official statistics show.

South Korea sent the largest group, followed by the United States, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, Indonesia, India, Kazakhstan and Pakistan.

France and Mongolia each sent 5,000 students in 2010.

The Ministry of Education is working with the US to implement a four-year education program initiated by President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart Barack Obama.
US students in China are set to become one of the largest of the foreign groups, as Beijing and Washington work together to bring 100,000 students to China in the next four years, education officials say.
The exchange went both ways.