Beijing highlights growing Indonesia-China student exchanges

Jakarta - The two-way student exchange between Indonesia and China is steadily increasing, with tens of thousands of Indonesian students now studying in China and vice versa, according to Zhang Jun, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Scholarship Council (CSC). “The number of Indonesian students in China has surpassed 17,000, ranking high among Asian countries in terms of foreign student numbers,” Zhang said at the 2026 China Higher Education Exhibition in Jakarta on Sunday. “Meanwhile, the number of Chinese students pursuing studies in Indonesia continues to rise, currently reaching the thousands,” he added. Zhang said the wave of student exchanges between Indonesia and China is a prominent highlight of the strong friendship between the two nations, which spans several generations. Educational cooperation between the two countries, encompassing collaboration between Indonesian and Chinese universities, is also being continuously refined to become more productive and effective. He noted that Indonesia-China educational collaboration has so far yielded significant results in human resource development, joint education and research, and particularly in Chinese language education. Furthermore, he explained that since its establishment 30 years ago under China’s Ministry of Education, the CSC has provided funding assistance to 350,000 Chinese students and academics studying abroad. Conversely, more than 250,000 foreign students and academics have received CSC scholarships to deepen their knowledge in China, Zhang said. These efforts, he said, have helped give rise to new experts across various scientific fields with a global outlook and have fostered friendship between the Chinese people and other nations, including Indonesia. Zhang also invited more Indonesian students to pursue their education in China and become drivers in strengthening the friendship between the two countries. Moreover, Beijing has devised a major plan to strengthen the development of its education system, so that higher education institutions in China can continue to offer new opportunities for international students wishing to further their education there, Zhang concluded.