China will enroll 300,000 foreigners in universities by 2020, up from 140,000 in 2005, a Chinese educational official said Monday.

The current 20 percent annual growth rate in student enrollments is expected to drop to eight percent from 2020,Cao Guoxing, director-general with the International Cooperation and Exchanges Department of the Ministry of Education, told a conference in Shihezi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

"China is increasingly popular with foreign students because its economy is booming, so the number of foreign students enrolling will continue to increase over the next few years," he said. China recruited more than 140,000 foreign college students from over 190 countries in 2005, the official said.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)