Foreign students hit record high
By Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-13 08:44
With a rapidly growing economy and unique culture, China is becoming one of
the world's major education and employment destinations.
Last year saw
the largest number of overseas students coming to China since 1949 about
141,000, up 27.28 per cent from the previous year, figures from the Ministry of
Education show.
South Korea and Japan are listed as the top two student
exporters to China, with 54,079 and 18,874 students studying here
respectively.
"The increase shows that China's growing economy and
ancient culture has gained world recognition," said Zhang Xiuqin,
secretary-general of the China Scholarship Council, an institution in charge of
the organization, management and funding of international students in
China.
The residential environment, education quality, medical and social
insurance provided by Chinese higher learning institutes also attract many
overseas students, she said, adding that the low tuition fees are also a big
draw.
Once the director of the ministry's foreign students affairs
department, Zhang was glad to see the growth in the number of overseas students
in China during the past 20 years.
China's first group of 33 foreign
students came from Eastern Europe in 1950, but the numbers did not begin to rise
until the nation's opening-up in the early 1980s.
"Today, we have students
from more than 160 countries," said Zhang.
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