French welcome Chinese students
Recent comments from French Ambassador to China Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, that new policies will be announced soon to facilitate Chinese student visa applications, are thrilling news for the increasing number of Chinese students wanting to study in France.
"We are studying some measures to facilitate the process and hope they could enjoy a one-stop service after they arrive in France and go through the relevant procedures," a local newspaper in Guangdong province quoted Gourdault-Montagne as saying on Jan 7.
The embassy has frequently voiced a welcome to Chinese students and can currently issue them with visas within 48 hours.
China, the world's largest source of overseas students, is now the second-largest sources of overseas students for France, after Morocco.
Around 35,000 Chinese students studied in the European country last year and the number is expected to reach 50,000 in 2015.
Zhao Luting, a French-language major graduate from a Beijing university who now works in Africa, said France's rich cultural heritage attracted him to learn the language and get to know the country. However, Zhao said, the high entry bar and costs of private French universities prevented him from pursuing further education in France when he graduated three years ago.
Zhao Chen, a Chinese national majoring in public affairs at Sciences Po Paris, said that in addition to disciplines that traditionally appeal to Chinese, such as fashion and liberal arts, more Chinese are now studying engineering in France, partly due to closer education cooperation between the two countries. During French President Francois Hollande's visit to China in April 2013, the two countries signed more than 10 agreements to strengthen higher education and research partnerships as well as student mobility. The new partnerships, many of which concern science, aim to increase student mobility to 80,000 Chinese students and 10,000 French scholars by 2020, according to the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
Among the Chinese students who go to France every year, two-thirds study at business and engineering schools, according to media reports in October.
France has also implemented a multi-entry visa valid up to five years for Chinese entrepreneurs, in an effort to boost bilateral economic ties.
The two countries signed a slew of deals worth more than $50 billion during President Xi Jinping's visit to France in March 2014, which fully demonstrated the great potential of the countries' economic cooperation, Chinese Ambassador to France Zhai Jun told media in December. China is France's third-largest export destination and its second-largest import partner. It is also China's fourth-largest source of trade in the European Union.
Trade volume between the countries reached $51 billion in 2012. That figure was reduced to $49.83 billion in 2013, and a multi-billion-dollar trade deficit with China is seen in Paris as unsustainable.
China has said it wants balanced trade with France and is willing to import more French products. Stressing that the countries continue to maintain cooperation in the sectors of aviation, civilian nuclear power, automobiles and tourism, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called for cooperation to extend to new areas such as finance, urbanization, healthcare and agriculture.
During a meeting with Vice-Premier Ma Kai in September, Valls said that France supports a stronger role for China's currency in the international monetary system.
The Bank of China was appointed in September as a yuan clearing service in Paris and two French groups were awarded licenses to invest in China's mainland securities, in moves to expand the yuan market.
The clearing center in Paris would boost bilateral economic and trade exchanges while accelerating the internationalization of the Chinese currency, Bank of China President Chen Siqing said at the center's opening ceremony on Dec 3.
Wu Xinning contributed to this story
zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 01/29/2015 page6)
