From April of 2011, China’s Ministry of Education has begun offering full scholarships to American undergraduate and graduate students to study at universities in China. The program is expected to provide tuition and living allowances for 10,000 American students who enroll in Chinese universities over the next three years, as well as to students enrolled in joint degree programs between Chinese and US universities.

The scholarships come as part of a plan to attract 500,000 foreign students to China by 2020, with US students expected to be among the largest groups of international students studying abroad in China. The total value of the scholarships offered to international students last year amounted to RMB800 million (US$123.9 million), with an additional RMB110 million (US$17 million), and benefitted 22,390 foreign students, out of a total of 265,090 foreign students enrolled at Chinese institutions in 2010.

The new scholarship program was officially launched this year, when Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to sign the China-US Consultation on People to People Exchange Agreement, which formalized the scholarship program that was initiated in 2010.