Chinese Minister of Education announcements

He gave his first public lecture in the UK, providing an unprecedented opportunity to hear about the Chinese government’s education plans. The University of Cambridge responded by outlining two partnerships the University has set up with Chinese institutions to fulfil the Minister’s aims to provide more high-quality education for Chinese students and professionals.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alison Richard unveiled plans for 15 scholarships per year for five years, jointly funded by the Cambridge Overseas Trust and the China Scholarships Council, for Chinese students to study for PhDs at the University. This agreement marks a significant milestone in the long-standing relationship between China and the University of Cambridge. This is the largest group of fully-funded scholarships for Chinese research students in the UK. Five per cent of the University of Cambridge’s graduate student body is Chinese, and China provides more undergraduate students at the University of Cambridge than any country other than the UK. The Cambridge Overseas Trust already partially supports 321 Chinese students.

Professor Richard also announced a top-level programme between the University of Cambridge, the University of Warwick and Tsinghua University in Beijing, one of the top two leading Chinese universities. This is the second phase of a project to help Chinese academics and postgraduates improve their English language skills. It will cascade out to six further Chinese universities. Entitled CUTE (Chinese University Teacher Training in English), it is part of the Sino-UK eLearning Programme (eChina-UK) 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 level of proficiency in English they need to present academic papers at international conferences or publish their work in English. The University of Cambridge is a leading provider of English language training and assessment worldwide.

During a speech to an invited audience, Minister Zhou outlined future trends in Chinese higher education and changing opportunities for foreign educational establishments and businesses. The Minister announced that the Chinese Government intends to increase standards of education for children of nine years and over; increase university participation from 20% to 40%; double the efforts to provide vocational education for the 60% who cannot enter university; and strongly support Chinese students to study abroad.

The Minister’s visit was supported by the British Council and the 48 Group Club.