CRI听力: China to Increse Educational Assistance to Developing Countries

China will increase efforts to assist other developing countries with education.

China's Ministry of Education has also announced plans to increase scholarship offers and training courses for talented personnel from other developing countries.

Zhang Cheng has more.(www.hXen.com)

Chinese Vice Education Minister, Hao Ping, explains that the country will further assist other developing nations in training high-level talents.

"Over the next five years, we will provide 10 thousand more students with scholarships to support them studying in China. We plan that by 2020, the number of foreign students in China will reach 500 thousand."

The official notes that in the year of 2008, over 14 thousand overseas students have received Chinese scholarships and studied in China. More than 60 percent of them are from developing countries.

The official adds that China will continue hosting the training courses for officials and professionals from these countries.
 
The training courses will focus on China's experiences in education and human resources, as well as introducing China's experiences in its reform and opening up.

Liu Hongwu, an expert in African studies, notes that such training courses are of great importance for the long-term relationship between China and African countries.

"From the official-level, when senior officials from African countries come to China and learn from China's development, they can discuss their opinions with us directly. Meanwhile there are also some world-famous universities in Africa. We can also learn from our cooperation."

According to China's Ministry of Education, China began building outbound colleges in Africa in 2003 and has provided overseas training courses since then.

Many teachers from prestigious Chinese universities also travel to African countries to help teach local students there.

Zhang Cheng, CRI news.