China provides pre-departure training before overseas study

The Ministry of Education is paying more attention to preparing Chinese students for studying overseas before they head abroad.

In 2014, more than 23,000 Chinese students who went abroad received departure training provided by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, an organization under the ministry, said Sun Jianming, director of the center.

"Among them, 16,000 were government-funded students," Sun said at a forum about studying abroad, which was held on Friday.

The training was first launched in 2009, and has been taken more seriously in recent years, as lots of incidents highlighting the risks to safety of Chinese students were reported overseas.

According to Sun, the training offered by the center now covers a range of issues Chinese students may face abroad, such different political, economic, cultural and religious conditions of the countries where students study and live; different education systems and courses of foreign universities and colleges, as well as medical and psychological instruction.

In recent years, the CSCSE has also made use of online platforms, such as WeChat and some video websites, to spread its departure training courses.

"The training has covered most of the government-funded students who went abroad, and will be extended to more self-funded students in the future," Sun said.