During US President Barack Obama’s well-publicised trip to China last week, the president announced plans to ‘match’ the number of Chinese students studying in the USA over the next four years, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

The president’s announcement is part of a long term initiative to improve the relationship between the US and China. A US and China joint statement noted that nearly 100,000 students go to the US every year to study, whereas less than 20,000 American students go to China. Latest figures from the Institute of International Education Open Doors report show this number to be considerably lower at 13,165 US students in China in the academic year 07–08.

You can view the full Open Doors International Education Exchange report on the IIE Network website.

Obama plans to increase the number of US students in China to 100,000 over the next four years but has not yet announced a plan for this initiative.

“China will have a much more important voice in world affairs in the coming years, and we need more Americans who can speak the language, who understand China, and who can do business more effectively with the Chinese.” A State Department spokesperson told The Chronicle.

However, some of the commenters on The Chronicle discussion forum following the article were dubious about how this initiative would work. Jeff1 wrote:

“I have spent much time for my institutions working on partnerships in China and they are wonderful people, smart and hard working. The big challenges, and it is a biggie, is that we do not speak Mandarin and they do not, speak English. If that challenge can be met the Chinese present us with an incredible market and opportunity and we for them.”