About 70 Chinese universities have joint programs or campuses overseas.

"Soochow University, Laos" -- an affiliate of eastern China's Soochow University -- opened in 2012, becoming the first overseas university run by a higher education institution from the Chinese mainland. Tongji University in Shanghai opened an overseas campus in the Italian city of Florence in 2014, becoming the first offshore campus of a Chinese university in a Western country. Xiamen University, in east China's Fujian province, opened its first overseas campus in Malaysia a year later. Meanwhile, China is also attracting hundreds of overseas institutions and programs, including many from the UK and the US -- the most popular overseas destinations for Chinese students. It's also drawing overseas investment -- for example, the Blackstone Group started its elite scholarship program at Beijing's Tsinghua University two years ago, with a mission to deepen the understanding between China and the West.