The Scottish government detailed its offer of a new scholarship to young people on April 9 in Beijing. The move is part of a package of incentives to encourage the "brightest and best" Chinese students to go and study in Scotland.

Under Scotland's Saltire Scholarships scheme, 50 awards are now available to postgraduate students from China. The awards will assist overseas students to undertake 12-month postgraduate Masters level courses in Scotland.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Ms. Fiona Hyslop, Scotland's Cabinet secretary for education, told China.org.cn that the scholarships, each worth £2000 GBP, are funded by the Scottish government and matched by contributions from Scottish universities and higher education institutions.

She said: "We want to create a self-confident outward-looking nation and as part of that we want to encourage the brightest and the best students to come and study here. This will help improve the cultural experience of students from home and abroad and play an important part in growing our economy and helping it recover from the current economic downturn."

The scholarship also highlights academic excellence in the Scottish university sector. According to the latest independent and globally-regarded Research Assessment Exercise, 86 percent of academic research in Scottish institutions has been judged to be internationally excellent. Scotland has also increased its share of the UK's world-class research.

Ms Hyslop praised the proud traditions of learning in both Scotland and China. The two sides should learn from each other and work together to develop education programs that will enable Scotland and China to meet future challenges.

She said: "This partnership formally recognizes our joint desire to work together for the sake of our young peoples' education and the benefits that this will bring to the economy and to wider society in both countries."

"In an increasingly globalized world, our students will benefit not only from our co-operation in education development, which will recognize the needs of the global economy, but also from an internationally-focused education," she told to China.org.cn.

There are almost 5,000 Chinese students studying at Scottish universities and Ms Hyslop was keen to see more Scottish students coming to China, to build long-lasting links between the two sides.

The secretary also signed a groundbreaking partnership between Shanghai University's College of Digital Arts – the first such dedicated facility in China – and the University of Abertay in Dundee, Scotland's center of excellence in computer games education.

Furthermore, she revealed to China.org.cn that underpinning the excellence of academic research in Scottish institutions, another Scotland-China Higher Education Research Partnership for PhD studies will also be launched in 2009.

Both the Scottish and Chinese governments have agreed to sponsor research collaboration between academics in Scotland and China. The partnership will aim to create and maintain sustainable relationships between Chinese and Scottish higher education institutions or research consortia.

Fiona Hyslop said: "These investments underline our commitment to attracting students from China and building relationships with that country in the longer term. It will also help us achieve our overall vision of a Smarter Scotland – with even better connections to the rest of the world."

"Scotland and China are looking to the future of education, and to the future benefits this will bring to all our people."

(China.org.cn by Wang Ke April 10, 2009)