China is working to bring in 100,000 American students to its Universities by 2014, which will make them the largest overseas group here, even as it revamps its educational structure to attract more foreign students.
The Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE) is working with the US to implement a four-year education programme put forward by President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart Barack Obama, said Zhang Xiuqin, director-general of the ministry's department of international cooperation and exchanges.
During Obama's visit to China in November last year, the two leaders announced that the US was committed to sending 100,000 Americans to study in China over the next four years.
"We will update the educational structure for these international students and increase scholarships," the China Daily quoted Zhang as saying.
Susan Stevenson, spokeswoman for the US embassy in Beijing said that the US is in the process of working out modalities to boost the current rate of flow of students to achieve the goal.
"It is a commitment that represents a significant increase in the number of US students coming to China," Stevenson said.
She said the two sides are working on various projects, but declined to elaborate.
About 19,200 US students are studying in China compared to over 98,200 Chinese studying in US universities.
Chinese students figured next only to Indian students whose numbers crossed one lakh last year.
With 64,232, South Korean students were the largest group of foreign students in China. Several hundred Indian students too studied in different universities in China.
"More job opportunities are the biggest motivation for foreign students to come to China," Zhang said.
Mutual recognition of academic degrees between the Chinese mainland and 34 countries and regions has also helped promote job opportunities for overseas students, Zhang said.
The majority of nearly 240,000 foreign students last year was still from Asia or developing countries, Zhang said.
Countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Pakistan, Tanzania, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia are encouraging students to study in China under government scholarship programmes.
Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin attract the largest number of foreign students.
