In 1978, with the implementation of the policy of reform and opening to the outside world, international cooperation and exchange in education entered a new stage. Each year many students and visiting scholars are sent abroad for advanced studies or research. Foreign students seeking to study in Chinese institutions are increasing year by year. Scholarly exchanges in many fields have been developed extensively. The useful experiences of foreign countries and institutions we have learned through these exchange programs have been conducive to the reform and development of education in China and have helped promote mutual understanding and friendship between China and foreign countries.


Over the past ten-odd years, we have sent 270,000 people to study in more than 100 countries and regions in the world, and received 210,000 foreign students from 160 countries and regions coming to study in Chinese institutions. About 1,800 Chinese college teachers and experts have taught abroad, and more than 40,000 foreign experts and teachers have taught in Chinese institutions. The cumulative number of Chinese scholars going abroad to attend international conferences and the cumulative number of foreign participants coming to China to attend international conferences hosted by Chinese institutions have both exceeded 11,000.


In 1996, China sent more than 10,000 people to study abroad in about 100 countries and regions, and about 267 regular HEls received about 33,000 students from 153 countries and regions enrolled in either long-term or short-term programs. TO promote the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language in foreign institutions, we sent Chinese language teachers to more than 30 countries, besides, over 5,000 Chinese teachers working in various other fields were sent abroad to teach or to give short-term lectures. In the past year, our universities and colleges invited more than 12,000 foreign experts or teachers to give lectures or work in China, and regular HEIs directly under the Ministry of Education alone sent 2,099 scholars to attend 1,316 international conferences and hosted 96 international conferences attended by more than 3,000 scholars coming from outside China. The Ministry of Education and its institutions received 130 visiting delegations.


New advances have been made in providing educational aid to foreign countries. The main form of aid is shifting from financial assistance to help build schools and develop facilities to aid specific projects. Such a shift in priority is more effective in enhancing the capability of educational provision of the recipient country and is highly appreciated by the foreign governments concerned.


Over the past ten-odd years, both bilateral and multi-lateral educational aid programs providing assistance to Chinese institutions and educational programs have been conducted successfully. The providers of multilateral aids include UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, World Bank and other international organizations. The World Bank alone has granted one billion US dollars of loans to support various projects of educational development, while the other international organizations have provided financial aids to various educational projects aggregating to 100 million US dollars.


In recent years, institutions, organizations and individuals in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have made many contributions to the mainland educational undertakings, and educational exchanges and cooperation have gradually expanded between institutions and organizations in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and those on the mainland.