More than 200 expatriates who studied in Shanghai and now work in the city gather on a cruise boat on the Huangpu River last night to hail Chinese New Year, which falls on February 7 this year.

The number of foreigners studying in the city jumped by 10.27 percent to hit a record 34,886 last year.

This was due to the city's opening-up policies to foreign students, the Shanghai Education Commission said yesterday.

The figure is put into perspective when you consider that in 2000 there were only about 6,000 foreigners studying in the city.

The government plans to raise the city's foreign-student number to 60,000 to 70,000 by 2010.

The city has already set up a scholarship, totaling 20 million yuan (US$2.76 million), to fund outstanding foreign youngsters to do postgraduate programs.

Nearly 500 foreign students so far have remained to work in the city after graduation, commission officials said.

(Shanghai Daily January 18, 2008)