国内英语新闻:Sino-Belgian education exchanges "promising": Chinese state councilor

LEUVEN, Belgium, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong said here on Tuesday that Sino-Belgian education exchanges should be promising as China's ongoing education reform attaches much importance to openness and cooperation.

China is on its way to strengthen its cooperation with first-class international universities, cultivate talents with global vision and further enhance international standards of its education, Liu said during a visit to KU Leuven, a well-known Belgian university about 30 kilometers east of Brussels.

Chinese government has decided to add 25 more scholarships for students from KU Leuven to study in China for one year, according to Liu.

KU Leuven has maintained close contact with Chinese partners, boasting about 600 Chinese students and researchers, or the second largest group of international students and staff in the university. Its sinology program was launched back in the 1970s while its Chinese library is the largest of its kind in Belgium.

Liu's visit "strongly endorses the outstanding relations between the Chinese academic institutions and KU Leuven," and "clearly fits the goals of the High-level people-to-people dialogue," the university's director Mark Waer said, adding that Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping also visited the school two years ago.

Liu is scheduled to kick off the first-ever China-EU high-level people-to-people dialogue on Wednesday in Brussels, together with Androulla Vassiliou, EU commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth.

The high-level people-to-people dialogue is designed to provide a lively platform for the exchange of ideas between China and Europe, following the established high-level economic and trade dialogue and the high-level strategic dialogue.

"The China-EU people-to-people exchange will also provide great opportunities for the Sino-Belgian people-to-people exchanges as well as further cooperation in fields of education, science and culture," Liu said.