Chinese students seeking to study abroad are "likely" to enjoy a one-stop service ranging from entrance examinations, college applications, overseas studies and job-seeking if they plan to return.

Shao Wei, vice-director of the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, said the services can really help Chinese students, particularly at a time when the country is facing a serious employment problem.

"Any returned students who had gained our help in studying abroad can further obtain assistance in finding job and residence registration in big cities," Shao told a recent discussion meeting organized by the center’s affiliated intermediary agency, Chivast Education International.

For those returned students, help with job-seeking is as critical as assistance to cope with "culture shock" before they leave, said Shao, who is also acting as president of Chivast Education International.

Chinese students have set their eyes on a wider range of countries for studying abroad, extending from developed countries such as the United States, Canada and Britain, to developing countries like South Africa.

Educational globalization and the identification of different cultures contribute a lot to the diversification of Chinese students' choice, said Shao.

According to Shao, with the development of China's economy, Chinese people were willing to invest more in education, which made it possible for more students to study abroad.

Shao said that cost was the major consideration for Chinese people in choosing where to study. Russia and Ukraine only required 30,000 yuan (US$3,610) each year, which was suitable for ordinary Chinese families.

Ma Yu'e, division director in charge of the center’s international cooperation, said the Ministry of Education will establish service standards to further discipline intermediary agencies and get them to improve their work.

Ma, also the general manager of Chivast Education International, did not go into detailed measures.

But she aid: "This move aims to enhance awareness of law enforcement among the agencies and offer better services to the public.”

The ministry's measures are designed to help self-supporting students rationally choose overseas schools. An increasing number of self-funding Chinese students go abroad, with nearly 70 percent of them using intermediary agencies.

China now has 270 authorized intermediary agencies, which employ nearly 10,000 staff.

China has sent 580,000 self-supporting and government-funded students to study abroad since the country started to implement its reform and opening-up policies in 1979.

(China Daily July 22, 2003)