CHINA: World's universities forge local alliances

Foreign universities are getting ready to grab a bigger slice of the education pie in China by firming up existing partnerships and forging new alliances with Chinese educational institutions, writes Wang Chao for China Daily.

Much of the optimism in Western academic institutions stems from China's strong economic growth, the increased spending power of its citizens and its growing demand for quality education. At the same time, several extraneous factors like the global financial crisis and economic weakness in the United States and Europe have also persuaded several of these venerable educational institutions to seek greener pastures in countries such as China and India to offset their flagging revenues.

According to the Ministry of Education in China, by the end of 2010 there were 157 institutes and 1,138 joint programmes in China that were affiliated to foreign universities.
Full report on the China Daily site