Education
Students not kids of 'powerful few'
By Zhang Yan and Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-01 12:28
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 An African student performs at a rehearsal for an art festival in Peking University. [China Daily/Feng Yongbin] |
Many Africans insist scholarships were not 'handed out' as favors
Yvan Etounou, from Cameroon, is among a growing number of Beijing-based foreign students who will finish his degree with a scholarship from the central government.
"The funding continues during the vacation and for my entire five years of study here," said Etounou, 24, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in telecommunications at Beihang University. The institution is China's top space science school and has received students from Cameroon for the first time.
Around 6,000 foreign students enrolled last year in Beijing's universities had full sponsorships from the central government. The number makes up one-third of Chinese Government Scholarship awardees nationwide, a senior official with the Ministry of Education told METRO in an exclusive interview.
For the last two years, the government has added more than 2,000 scholarships annually to the government-funded program launched three decades ago. The fund was increased recently by 30 percent to 650 million yuan.
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Imen Belhadj, a Peking University PhD candidate from Tunisia, told METRO she noticed the population of government-funded African students in Beijing had grown significantly in the past two years.
"The number varies in different institutions, but, overall, the number of African students here with funding has increased."
Belhadj, who is in her fifth year in Beijing, said many African students she knows came from Nigeria, Congo and Kenya. The New York Times reported in November that Chinese authorities had awarded extra scholarships to the children of "the powerful few" from African countries in order to cement alliances.
Some African students receiving government funding in Beijing declined to tell METRO about their family history, saying it was "private" but the Ministry of Education's Vice-Director of International Exchange and Cooperation, Sheng Jianxue, said the accusation was "groundless".
"It totally distorts the facts. I don't think the report is worth my refuting at all," the official told METRO. "No matter whether students are from America or Africa, they have an equal opportunity to be awarded a Chinese Government Scholarship."
The official said Chinese schools will give special attention to diversity of culture and nations in addition to academic performance
Many African students also insisted the scholarships they had were not handed out as a favor but were something they had to compete for. Etounou said he passed two rounds of tests and was chosen from a pool of 500 students in his nation of 19 million. Belhadj said her excellent coursework scores helped her snag a scholarship.
Undergraduates selected for a scholarship receive 1,400 yuan a month. Master's and doctoral students get 1,700 yuan and 2,000 yuan from the central government. Individual universities also offer stipends and awardees receive waivers for tuition fees and other registration and course work costs. Students also enjoy campus accommodation, if rooms are available.
Students said the scholarships were sufficient to cover their study and campus expenses. The scholarship amount is twice that of the National Scholarship awarded local university students.
"If I spend it wisely and carefully, I can even save some after my study here," said Efua Bucknor, 22, a senior student from Ghana studying at Beijing Language and Culture University, where most government scholarship students stay.
Government scholarship awardees comprise more than 8 percent of the 240,000 overseas students in China, authorities said.
