Twenty-four cooperation agreements have been signed due to a partnership between 10 Chinese universities and nine Kazakhstan counterparts, blazing a new trail for deeper educational cooperation between the two countries.

The group signing ceremony was held at the first China-Kazakhstan University Rector's Cooperation Dialogue in Guian New Area, Southwest China's Guizhou province on July 27.

As part of the 11th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week, which opened in the area on July 26, the dialogue was attended by more than 90 representatives and guests from a dozen universities and institutions from Kazakhstan and over 30 Chinese universities.

With a theme of "a new start of educational cooperation brings a new future for cultural and educational exchanges", the dialogue saw a great number of experts from both parties explore and discuss exchange mechanisms and share their experience in disciplinary construction and research cooperation.

"Guizhou universities have established a cooperative partnership with a lot of universities in the ASEAN bloc during the past 11 years, thanks to the education week," said Li Jianjun, Party secretary of Guizhou University.

Li also disclosed that up till now, the number of exchange students between China and ASEAN has exceeded 1,000 and Guizhou University is home to hundreds of international students from ASEAN countries.

As the number of Chinese learners increases across the world, China has opened five Confucius Institute in Kazakhstan, which has established four centers in China. At present, 15,000 Kazakhstan students are studying in China.

"I hope to establish more cooperative ties with Chinese schools, having more frequent exchanges among students and more opportunities to join Chinese research projects," said Timothy Barnett, provost and general deputy to the president of the Kazakhstan-based KIMEP University.