Jiangsu to increase scholarships for overseas students

Jiangsu Province is expected to attract more overseas students after it announced that it was providing full scholarships ranging from 50,000 (US$ 8,120) to 90,000 yuan for each person every year.

The program, initiated by the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, aims at promoting Jiangsu as major destination for overseas students. By 2020, the province is expected to recruit 50,000 students, among whom a target of 5 percent will be postgraduates from the province's prestigious universities, such as Nanjing University and Southeast University.

The province set up the "Jasmine Scholarship" in 2010,investing up to 15 million yuan each year in the scholarship for overseas students.

The number of overseas students in Jiangsu hit 18,700 last year, among whom 76 percent are long-term students and nearly 50 percent have studied for degrees there.

According to Lin Yue, director of the International Cooperation and Exchange Office of the Education Department in Jiangsu Province, full annual scholarships of 50,000 to 90,000 yuan a person will be offered.

English is a requirement at universities that are popular with overseas students. According to Lin, those universities are now the cradle of the overseas alumni who are friendly to China and Chinese culture.