The United Kingdom gets the highest number of students from China after the U.S., a top UK educational official said in Beijing Monday.

About 60,000 Chinese students are studying in the UK today, and students' visa applications from January to September have gone up by 12 percent year-on-year, according to John Denham, the UK Secretary of State for Innovations Universities and Skills.

And more than 100 UK universities have entered partnerships with Chinese counterparts to provide education, Denham said.

To attract more international students, the UK government recently changed its policy of employment, and foreign postgraduates can now have a paid job for one to two years after their graduation, he said.

Creating jobs and boosting entrepreneurship are what the UK and China both want to do, he said.

"Employability is about more than educating individuals and giving them the skills to meet business needs. The UK and China will cooperate to give our graduates the practical work experience our job markets require."

Chinese Minister of Education Zhou Ji and Denham are soon expected to issue a joint statement that would focus on higher education, employment and vocational training.

European Commissioner for Education, Training and Youth Jan Figel said during his visit to China last week that a record 120,000 Chinese students went to the European Union (EU) for studies.

To attract more students from around the globe, the EU launched the Erasmus Mundus program in 2004, which provides scholarships to foreign students to study in EU countries.

(China Daily October 31, 2007)