Summary
Xu Tao, the Director-General of the Chinese Ministry of Education's Department of International Cooperation and Exchange, recently made a key speech setting out China's recent achievements, current goals and new initiatives in international education cooperation. The key points made in the speech are summarised below.

Director-General Xu set out five recent developments in international education as a result of the opening up of Chinese education to overseas cooperation:

1. Strengthening the top-level policy development - two key policy documents, "Guidelines on Works in Opening Up the Education Sector in the New Era" and "Promoting the Joint Development of the 'One Belt One Road' Education Campaign", stipulate the goals and missions of China’s international education cooperation and serve as guidance for future developments.

2. Consolidating the People-to-People dialogue (P2P) achievements - China has established high level P2P dialogues with six partners: Russia, the US, the UK, the EU, France and Indonesia

3. Development of in-demand talents and research on particular countries and regions - China has increased the number of students studying less-common foreign languages, and funded research on specific countries and regions, including all of the "one belt, one road" countries.

4. Strengthening two-way student mobility - the number of Chinese students going overseas reached 523,700 in 2015, and a large proportion of overseas students return to China after completing their studies. The number of overseas students in China increased substantially to almost 400,000. Joint Sino-foreign institutions such as the University of Nottingham Ningbo were specifically mentioned as having a positive effect on recruitment of international students to China.

5. Continuing the development of Sino-foreign joint programmes - the number of approved Sino-foreign joint programmes and institutes has increased substantially, contributing high-quality overseas eduation resources and helping to meet demand from Chinese students.

Director-General Xu also mentioned three key trends in Chinese government policy related to international education cooperation:

1. Focusing more on quality - China's education system has substantially improved in recent years, both in terms of coverage and international competitiveness. Quality enhancement will be the main focus of the new stage of education reform.

2. Implementing the two key policy documents - Xu summarised the content of "Guidelines on Works in Opening Up the Education Sector in the New Era" as improving education quality in six key areas, including education for internationally mobile students, education delivery involving international partners, and P2P exchanges with other countries. Mr Xu described the focus of "Promoting the Joint Development of the 'One Belt One Road' Education Campaign" as being in three areas: connection of the education sector, training on talent development, and joint development of the Silk Road collaboration scheme.

3. Supporting the development of the “World-Class Universities and Disciplines” plan - three of this plan's reforms are directly relevant to international cooperation, specifically nurturing world-class talent; improving students’ overall capabilities, international vision, adherence to science and spirit of entrepreneurship; and developing internationally competitive disciplines. International cooperation and exchange can support these goals.

Finally, Xu listed six important initiatives to improve China's international cooperation

1. Setting up platform for cooperation and P2P exchanges between China and other countries - this includes improving international understanding through language study exchange programmes and student mobility frameworks such as the China-US "One Million Strong" initiative

2. Strengthening cooperation in support of the “World-Class Universities and Disciplines” plan - Xu specifically mentioned leveraging the strengths of joint programmes and institutes in order to develop high-quality teaching resources and learn from advanced management experience.

3. Improving the quality of international cooperation and exchanges in education - the top two priorities are quality enhancement and efficiency improvement. There is a goal to "significantly increase the benefits of [TNE] education offers involving international partners".

4. Promoting mutual recognition of qualifications and degrees - China currently has 46 mutual recognition agreements, including three signed in 2016. China and the UK already have a mutual recognition agreement.

5. Strengthening international cooperation on cross-border education quality assurance - China will draw on experience from working with the UK's QAA and France's HCERES on cross-border education quality accreditation and assurance in order to strengthen cooperation with international organisations; the Chinese side will also become more actively involved in setting standards.

6. To improve the benefits of TNE joint institutes and programmes - in particular, joint programmes / institutes should support China’s higher education reforms and innovation and play a demonstrative role, rather than to be aimed at earning money. Chinese institutions are expected to learn from the education ideas, management models and teaching methodologies of their joint programmes. In addition, regulations related to TNE will be revised, in particular in relation to both entry and exit of joint programmes / institutes. More power will be delegated to lower levels, but supervision will be strengthened.

Analysis by Kevin Prest
Director-General Xu’s speech gives a concise summary of China’s current priorities in international education. In particular, the focus on supporting quality education stands out as a key priority, while other goals such as strengthening quality assurance and on increasing the flow of expertise from joint programmes to Chinese institutions support this goal.

Sources:
1. Director-General Xu Tao's speech on China's recent achievements, current goals and new initiatives in international education cooperation: http://www.cfce.cn/a/news/zhxw/2017/0224/3231.html
2. SIEM's previous news on the "Guidelines on Works in Opening Up the Education Sector in the New Era": https://education-services.britishcouncil.org/news/market-news/china-ann...
3. SIEM's previous news on the "Action Plan for Promoting the Joint Development of the 'One Belt One Road' Education Campaign": https://education-services.britishcouncil.org/news/market-news/chinas-ne...