The Shanghai Education Commission (SEC) is encouraging privately owned colleges and research institutes to recruit more foreign students in the hope of doubling their number in Shanghai by 2010, SEC officials have said.

 

The number of such students in Shanghai has grown by about 30 percent annually since 2000. In total 31,600 foreigners were studying at 24 public universities in Shanghai at the end of last year. Annually over 500 of those remain in the city to work after graduation.

 

SEC officials say they expect 60,000 to 70,000 foreign students to be enrolled in city educational institutes each year by the end of 2010.

 

"The city has seen a significant increase in foreign students over the past few years but we should make efforts to ensure continuous expansion over the next five years," said Wang Qi, the SEC's vice director who oversees higher education.

 

Wang said one way to increase the number of foreign students was to open more schools to them including private colleges and research institutes. The privately-owned Shanghai Jianqiao College has been given approval to enroll foreigners from this year.

 

The city also plans to grant government scholarships to long-term foreign students from this year with awards ranging from 4,000 yuan (US$500) to 40,000 yuan annually.

 

Wu Huizhen, director of Fudan University's foreign student office, said places of education should improve their own curricula and ensure teaching methods are in line with international standards before recruiting overseas students.

 

"Scholarships are good but the Chinese language is difficult and monotonous teaching methods prove to be major drawbacks for us to attract more foreigners," Wu said.

 

(Shanghai Daily February 12, 2007)