Chinese Education Minister Chen Baosheng (Photo: Edmond Tang/China Daily)

At a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing Chinese Communist Party National Congress, Education Minister Chen Baosheng said China is leading Asia and ranks 3^rd in the world in foreign student attraction.

Education in China has made great leaps during the past 5 years and has been having a growing impact internationally. China has established education cooperation with more than 180 countries and territories. 47 of them have signed with China agreements on mutual recognition of academic qualifications. 516 Confucius Institutes and more than 1,000 Confucius Classrooms have been founded in 142 countries and regions, helping to promote Chinese culture and the teaching of the Chinese language.

Chen said the quality of education in China has generally reached a medium-high level. Some disciplines of higher education have met world class standards and some universities' places in global rankings have climbed quickly in recent years. The 120-year-old Peking University in Bejing, for an example, ranks 21^st in the World University Rankings of the British Times Higher Education.

Experts cite school fees as an important reason that foreign students choose educational facilities in Asia. School fees and cost of living in China are about one third as much as in the US or the UK.

In addition, the Chinese government offers tens of thousands of scholarships to foreign students. China has made visas easier to obtain if you have a master’s degree or doctorate and want to stay in China to work.

The number of foreign students coming to China increases between 7 and 15% every year. Last year China received nearly 550,000 foreign students, including 71,000 from South Korea, 24,000 from the US, and 23,000 from Thailand.

The most popular disciplines are medicine and pharmacy, electronics and telecommunications, IT, arts, and Chinese language.