A record high of 179,800 Chinese students went abroad for overseas study in 2008.

That figure was revealed on Wednesday by Zhang Xiuqin, an official in charge of international cooperation with the Ministry of Education.

Zhang said the number of Chinese studying abroad has increased since 2004 due to stable growth of the national economy, a flexible policy for going overseas and a surging demand to receive education.

The ministry does not have detailed information about Chinese students' destinations for overseas studies.

However, according to the Beijing OZ Enrollment Center of International Education, a leading overseas studies agency, the top three destinations for Chinese last year were the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the number of Chinese returning home after overseas studies in 2008 reached 69,300. That's a 55.95 percent increase from 2007, according to the ministry.

Zhang said that the global financial crisis had made it more difficult for overseas Chinese students to find jobs outside China. Also, the ministry set up a special fund to support short-term research by Chinese overseas scholars to help them make a long-term career plan when they return home.

Ministry statistics show that from 1978 to the end of 2008, more than 1.39 million Chinese studied abroad, of those, 390,000 returned home.

So far, China has 401 licensed agencies to operate overseas study services.

China has also decided to send 5,000 government-sponsored students abroad each year from 2007 to 2011. It also offers a US$5,000 scholarship each to 300 students every year who pay overseas tuition themselves.

In 2008, 90 percent paid for their own schooling.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2009)