Jiangsu province is dedicated to recruiting more foreign students by offering attractive scholarships, according to the "Study in Jiangsu Program" launched by Jiangsu Provincial Education Department on 13 August. Qualified foreign students will get scholarships ranging from 50,000 yuan ($8,125) to 90,000 yuan each year, there is a total annual budget of 15 million RMB for scholarships. In addition, the province is encouraging cities and enterprises to establish municipal level and enterprise scholarships for foreign students.
Aside from increasing scholarships, the province is also making an effort to create a better studying environment for overseas students. There are currently 50 universities in Jiangsu receiving foreign students and they are going to offer 1,500 courses in natural and social sciences taught in English within five years.
The province's ambitious plan is to attract 50,000 foreign students to the province every year by 2020, with more than 5 percent of them studying for master or doctoral degrees at its elite universities such as Nanjing University. The province had 18,700 foreign students by the end of last year. According to the Ministry of Education, China had 356,000 foreign students in 2013, a huge increase from 200 when the number was only 52,000.