China plans to attract more foreign students and encourage Chinese schools to establish learning centers overseas, according to an education development plan for the next five years unveiled Friday. 
  
China will develop a professional system for foreign students, which offers reputed majors and courses to build the "study in China" brand, according to a circular issued by the general offices of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council. 
  
The selection of foreign students will take into account their nationalities and specialties, and there will be a focus on those with an aptitude for innovation, minority languages, international relations, and research. 
  
To this end, China will improve education management and certification standards, while eliminating failing education institutes. 
  
Scholarships will be increased, with a new "Silk Road" scholarship awarded annually to 10,000 students from countries covered by the "Belt and Road" initiative. 
  
Foreign individuals and groups that have made outstanding contributions to education exchange and cooperation within the Belt and Road initiative will also qualify for awards, it said. 
  
Highlighting that overseas Chinese education institutions should be developed "steadily," the document encouraged individuals and social groups to participate in establishing schools overseas. 
  
Chinese education institutions will partner with world-leading universities in programs to identify talent and support academic research, while learning from their approaches to teaching and management. 
  
"All these measures will help to accelerate the building of a modern university model with Chinese characteristics," it said, adding that higher education institutions will be supported to join major international science projects, build high-level joint laboratories and research centers for international cooperation. 
  
While making more efforts to attract high-caliber talent from across the globe, Chinese schools will despatch visiting teachers and academics to elite foreign institutes. 
  
Calling for more language exchanges, the document hoped that overseas Chinese and foreigners studying and teaching in China would actively spread China's development and concepts across the world. 
  
According to the plan, China will open up its schools through concrete cooperation with their counterparts in major, adjacent, developing countries and various organizations. 
  
The country will also push forward multilateral recognition of education degrees within the Asia-Pacific region and support the United Nations in the same effort across the globe. 
  
"[China] will actively participate in the mapping of international education quality standards and the evaluation and examination of international students," it said. 
  
The country will support developing countries in the global education arena, recommend personnel to work at international organizations and offer more educational support to other developing countries, including teaching equipment, curriculum and teacher training. 
  
According to the document, education investment will increase, and Party and government departments at all levels should give priority to education development at the international level.