Beijing's universities gear up to welcome a new class of international university students.

Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) student Liva Soloveja, hadn't realized how quickly one week of Chinese lessons could take effect until she hailed a Beijing cab. The 22-year-old blonde from Latvia found her driver falling asleep as they drove, so she began calling him shifu hoping to wake him up. Eventually, her Chinese came through.

Freshmen register for classes at the University of International Business and Economics. Beijing's universities gear up to welcome a new class of international university students. [China Daily]

"You can expect anything to happen in Beijing. It is a strange, new and exciting city. I really enjoy staying here," said Soloveja, who registered at BLCU on Sept 3 to study Chinese language and photography.

"Chinese is a very different language compared with Lettish or other languages spoken in European countries," she said.

"It changes my way of thinking when speaking Chinese. I love it, so I came to Beijing to study it."

In addition to Soloveja, Beijing will welcome more than 80,000 foreign students this year, 10,000 more than last year, according to a report from Beijing Daily.

In most universities, freshmen registration for international students started on Sept 1 and ended on Sunday.

BLCU admitted 3,000 new students this year, up 7 percent from last year. Five hundred of those will undergo undergraduate or graduate studies, and the remaining will take language courses lasting from four weeks to several semesters, said Wu Zhiyong, director of the admission office for foreign students at BLCU.

Korean students are still the largest foreign students group at the university, followed by students from Japan, the US and Indonesia, Wu said.

Chinese language and Chinese culture are the two most popular majors chosen by international students. Subjects such as finance and economics, international politics and media are also well-received by foreign students, he said.

Wu Yunxin, deputy director of the International Office of Tsinghua University, said the university enrolled 1,959 students from 112 countries this year, an increase of 11 percent from last year.

For postgraduate programs, the number of American students has surpassed that of Korean students, becoming the largest foreign student group, he added.

The quality of students' has also seen a significant improvement with many visiting students coming from top-notch universities such as Harvard, MIT, Oxford and University of Tokyo, he said.

Most universities have put policies and orientation courses in place to facilitate foreign students' study and campus life.

For example, at BLCU, police officers will be invited to introduce basic Chinese laws and regulations to foreign students.

BLCU will also establish discussion groups between freshmen and senior students. Older students will pass on their experience and share ways to cope with the difficulty of living in a foreign country.

In Tsinghua University, majors such as business administration, Chinese law and mechanical engineering are offered in English for students who haven't learned a sufficient level of Chinese.

Though it's their first time setting foot in Beijing, many students have already set goals of what they hope to achieve while studying at their university.

Musonda Banda, an 18-year-old Zambian student who began her studies at the University of International Business and Economics last week, said her goal is to learn Chinese while broadening her knowledge of other countries.

"Taking the opportunity to learn from other countries is wise - we have to explore and reach outside of our own communities," she said. "I'm here to shape my future and studying here has helped me do that."

(China Daily September 7, 2010)