The mainland has extended its links with the University of Cambridge during the first official visit of its Education Minister to Britain.
Zhou Ji told Cambridge academics that China aimed to continue the rapid expansion of its post-secondary education. University participation is to be increased from 20 per cent to 40 per cent while vocational education will be extended for the 60 per cent who cannot enter university. He also said that his ministry would 'strongly support' Chinese students in studying abroad.
Cambridge vice-chancellor Professor Alison Richard responded by announcing the extension of a major initiative to help Chinese academics and students communicate in English, as well as a new group of scholarships.
She announced the launching of the second phase of a top-level programme between Cambridge, the University of Warwick and Tsinghua University in Beijing, which would be extended to six further Chinese universities.
Chinese University Teacher Training in English (CUTE) is part of the Sino-British eLearning Programme established by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Chinese Ministry of Education.
The project will provide learning tools and practice for Chinese academics and students to achieve the high standard in English they need to present academic papers at international conferences or publish their work in English.