CHINA: Shanghai to attract more foreign students

Shanghai plans to improve its higher education resources to attract more foreign students, and to spend more for college students to study overseas, reports Liang Yiwen for the Shanghai Daily. The goal is for the percentage of overseas students in local colleges to grow to 15% in 2020 compared with 5.9% in 2008, according to the city's 10-year education development outline.

The draft of the Shanghai Outline for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) was published last week for public comments.

To some observers, the goal to bring in foreign students seems too ambitious. "The draft has lot of highlights, but it doesn't put forward a feasible approach to realize these highlights," said Xiong Bingqi, Vice President of 21st Century Education Research Institute.

According to the draft, the city government will subsidize 2% of local college and university students to go on a study tour or internship experience abroad every year.
Full report on the Ottawa Citizen site