By IANS/EFE,
Avila (Spain) : The number of Chinese students studying in Spain has increased from 500 in 2003 to more than 5,500 this year, according to figures provided Thursday by a diplomat at China’s embassy in Madrid.
Speaking at an event in the central city of Avila, embassy First Secretary Wang Zhiwei also noted that the number of Spaniards studying in China had risen from 100 to 2,000 over the past eight years.
He noted that in 2007 China and Spain signed several agreements concerning the recognition of titles between the two countries and the organisation up to three forums of Chinese and Spanish university leaders, with the participation of 100 universities.
All that is the fruit of the “increase in exchanges” between the two countries in different areas including architecture, engineering and, above all, tourism, as shown by the fact that each year about 1,000 Chinese students who want to study Spanish graduate.
Wang emphasized the fact that Spanish and Chinese are two of the world’s most important languages, and from that springs the collaboration between the two countries and between China and South America, something that has made it necessary for Chinese to study the Spanish language and learn about the Spanish culture.
Likewise, he also noted his countrymen’s “growing interest” in Spain.
The number of Chinese tourists visiting Spain has been rising at a rate of around 25 percent a year, reaching 100,000 in 2010.