foreign students

The education of foreign students, who mostly came from socialist countries in the early years of the PRC, saw a rapid growth in the 1990s. According to the Ministry of Education, 350,000 foreign students were studying in China in 2001, which, for the first time, almost equalled the number of Chinese students studying abroad. They now come from all over the world and study in more than 360 universities majoring in some 200 specialties in the humanities, social sciences, natural and medical sciences and engineering and as Chinese language students, undergraduates, master and doctoral students, trainees and scholars of all kinds and participants in various fields of short-term training courses.

In 2001 alone, 52,000 foreign students from 166 countries went to China, of whom 3,500 were studying for more than one year and 2,100 were studying under the Chinese Government scholarships. Foreign students studying in Shanghai alone exceeded 6,300 in 2001, five times more than in the 1980s.

This was the first time that the number of foreign students exceeded the number of Shanghai students going abroad. Foreign students can apply to study in China through exchanges between governments and universities, and by individual application. A certain level of HSK (Chinese Proficiency Test) is necessary in order to study subjects other than Chinese language. Top universities for foreign students are: Beijing Language and Culture University, Peking University, Fudan University, East China Normal University, Nankai University, Shanghai Normal University and Qinghua University. Some secondary and primary schools also admit foreign students. In November 2002, a group of universities held an unprecedented and highly successful overseas education exhibition to recruit German students to study in China. More such exhibitions are planned for the future.

Websites

www.cernet.edu.cn

www.csc.edu.cn

www.cscse.edu.cn

HELEN XIAOYAN WU