(Photo : Communication University of China, Beijing. The Soviet Style Teaching Building of the Newly Established School of Foreign Languages)

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The China National Center for Student Financial Aid said the Chinese government spent a total of CNY54.8 billion, or $8.96 billion, as financial aid to college students in China last year as part of the country's efforts to boost education quality.

The financial aid that the country granted to students in China in 2012 represented an increase of 6.44% from a year earlier and Zhang Guangming, the center's director, said China is further expanding its financial assistance to students nationwide this year.

Scholarship Breakdown

According to the center, the government granted a total of CNY1.4 billion ($228 million) to provide national scholarship to 95,000 students while another CNY3.4 billion ($555 million) was allocated as national encouragement scholarship that benefited 683,000 students.

Another CNY13.6 billion ($2.22 billion) was spent as stipends for 4.86 million students nationwide, Guangming said.

Aside from the scholarship grants, China also allocated CNY14.9 billion ($2.43 billion) as college loans to 2.6 million students nationwide during the same period, according to figures released by the center.

Accessible Financial Aid

Zhang said the center is setting up a system that will make the financial assistance accessible to students at different education stages - from kindergarten to postgraduates. He added that at least 80 million students have already received financial aid this year.

China allocates scholarship grants to make sure that deserving students from impoverished families can go to school by accessing financial assistance provided to them by the government, Zhang said.

As the new semester starts for freshmen at universities and colleges in China, Zhang said the Ministry of Education is closely monitoring the enrollment of students from poor families to ensure that these students get scholarship or loans to pay for their tuition.

Scholars from Zambia

Aside from providing scholarship grants to its students, China has also been providing scholarships to students from different countries. This month, the government announced that 32 students from Zambia will be going to study in China under the country's scholarships.

The Chinese government has provided a total of 584 scholarships to deserving Zambian students since 1978. Scholarships have also been granted to students from other countries.