2015年CRI China, Britain Witness Booming Education Cooperation（在线收听）

There are currently around 6-thousand British nationals studying in China.

Earlier this month, Lang Lang began learning Mandarin at Beijing-based Tsinghua University, one of China's top schools, in an attempt to become more rounded when looking for a job.

Tighter ties between China and the UK in recent years has led to a sharp rise in the number of British students travelling to China to study.

To maintain this trend, British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has pleged his government will recruit an additional 5-thousand UK students to learn Mandarin before 2020.

China is also the largest source of foreign students in Britain.

150-thousand Chinese nationals are currently studying in the country.

Yu Jianyi majored in public policy at the University of London.

She says Chinese students attending British schools need to learn in a different way from what they were accustomed to in China.

"You have to spend quite some time in libraries after classes or you will fall back. My classmates came from around the world. Our in-class discussions were quite different from the process at Chinese schools. Most foreign students are outspoken. The questions we discussed usually had more than one answer."

Du Li works for a Beijing-based consultancy which recruits Chinese students to study abroad.

She says there are good reasons why British schools are attractive to Chinese students.

"British schools are becoming more popular with Chinese students largely due to their flexible teaching methods and the reasonable curriculum designs. On top of this, the quality of education in the UK is widely recognized."

The Chinese and British governments have already signed an ambitious framework to expand collaboration across higher, vocational and grade-school education, on top of closer collaboration in sports education.

Chinese Education Minister Yuan Guiren says its steps like these which will help increase ties between the two countries.

"Improved education partnerships will benefit the two country's education sectors and their students. It will also ensure a promising future, as bilateral relationships are going to be handled by the young in the years to come."

As part of time in the UK, Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken time out to tour Imperial College in London.

Observers are suggesting the tour could be a sign the Chinese goverment may be preparing to make education a higher priority in China-UK ties in the future.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.