Higher tuition fees for Chinese students, disparate overseas student numbers between China and the United Kingdom and the latter's tighter immigration policies, Michael Gove, the UK secretary of state for education, spoke of prospects for UK-China collaboration on Nov 10 in Beijing.

While speaking of his optimism about UK-China education collaboration, Gove was asked a number of tough questions by reporters:

China Daily reporter: With the United States' effort in recruiting more and more Chinese students in recent years by providing them with more admission and scholarship opportunities, what advantages does the UK have to compete with the US and share China’s education market?

People Daily reporter: As you said, there are 100,000 Chinese students studying in the UK and only 3,000 UK students in China, what are the reasons for such disparity?

The Guardian reporter: Many Chinese people who have studied in the UK say the biggest pros are not beautiful scenes and historical buildings but the fact that they can work for a couple of years after they graduate in the UK. Is it still going to be the case with immigration changes?

Background:

In the accompaniment with UK Prime Minister David Cameron's two-day state visit to China, Gove attended the fifth Annual China-UK Ministerial Summit in Beijing, where he agreed a number of agendas to promote UK-China educational collaboration. These include:

- A joint program to train 1,000 new Chinese language teachers in the next five years to promote Mandarin learning in the UK signed between the Office of Chinese Language Councils International (the Hanban) and Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT)

- A new UK-China Partners in Education Program to fund higher and further education institutional partnerships

- An agreement to increase the number of UK students studying in China

Reporter and editor: Feng Xin

Photographer: Sun Peng

Producer: Flora Yue