China and the European Union are working to promote academic credit transfers between higher-education institutions, officials say.

The credit transfer system, an important tool for measuring and recognizing a student's academic performance in other countries, topped the agenda of the China-EU Education Ministers Conference, held in Beijing on Oct 11.

Education Minister Chen Baosheng, who chaired the conference, says China has long encouraged domestic universities to cooperate and exchange with counterparts abroad, including through credit transfers.

So far, China has signed agreements with 19 EU members to recognize higher-education degrees.

In terms of credit transfers, Chen says, some successful pilot programs have occurred at several China-EU joint platforms and institutions, such as the Sino-European Engineering Education Platform, established in September 2010.

"We hope to further boost the mutual recognition of academic credits and degrees between the universities of China and the EU by spreading the successful experience of the domestic pilot programs," Chen says.

Apart from credit transfers, other topics relating to China-EU educational cooperation, including nurturing entrepreneurship, innovation and employability of students, were discussed at the conference.

Members of the EU, including France, Germany and Spain, are hot destinations for Chinese seeking educations overseas.

Statistics from the Education Ministry show that, as of last year, more than 300,000 Chinese people studied in EU countries. Last year alone saw 123,000 Chinese students head there, accounting for 23 percent of all overseas students.

Meanwhile, China has also become a popular choice for EU students. Among the 400,000 international students in China last year, one in 10 was from the EU.

Tibor Navracsics, the EU commissioner for education, culture, youth and sports, says the mutual recognition of credit should be further promoted, and a prerequisite to that is understanding each other's education system and language.

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