China signs academic mutual recognition agreements with 24 B&R countries

To date, China has signed agreements on the mutual recognition of academic degrees with 46 countries and regions, the Ministry of Education said on April 19, the China Youth Daily reports.

Among these countries, 24 are along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative: eight from Central and Eastern Europe, five from Southeast Asia, five from Central Asia and three from the Commonwealth of the Independent States, one from South Asia, one from East Asia and one from North Africa.

More are in the pipeline. Yan Bingchen, an official of the ministry’s Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, said, “China will negotiate with Moldova, Cyprus, South Africa and some other countries on mutual recognition of academic diplomas and degrees this year .”

The ministry has signed an agreement to cooperate with the Beijing Foreign Studies University in establishing new majors teaching the languages of the Belt and Road countries. The university is expected to teach 94 languages by 2018.

Xu Tao, director of the ministry’s Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, said the ministry has granted a total of 141 research projects, among which 70 concern 46 countries along the Belt and Road routes. The ministry has also set up research programs for think tanks on the initiative, covering 46 relevant countries.  

“The ministry will offer Chinese Government Scholarship to no less than3,000 freshmen from Belt and Road countries every year,” Xu said. 

As of 2016, Chinese universities have set up four academic institutions and 98 programs in 14 countries and regions, most of which are along the routes of the initiative. Majors include Chinese language and literature, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), acupuncture and Chinese martial arts.