Shortly after Moscow canceled a student exchange program with the United States, it was announced that China and Russia have agreed on plans to increase the number of their mutual exchange program students to 100,000 in five years, The Moscow Times reported.
The announcement was made before Oct. 13, Monday, when Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev had a meeting in Moscow to ink deals in cultural affairs, trade, investment and energy.
Recently, Moscow decided to suspend the successful 20-year-old Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program with the U.S. after a Russian student remained in the U.S. instead of returning to Russia.
Currently, there are about 15,000 Russian students in China and about 25,000 Chinese students attending Russian colleges and universities. By 2020, Beijing and Moscow plan to increase the total number to 100,000.
For the 2014-2015 Russia-China Youth Friendly Exchange Program, 300 events in China and Russia have been scheduled as part of the bilateral year set up to allow cultural exchange between participating students. So far, 7,000 students have joined the program.
One of the universities in Russia that accept Chinese exchange students is Ural State Mining University. In 2014, URSMU accepted 45 students from China, including current Jilin University student Jiyu Sun.
In an interview, Sun discussed his experience adapting to life in Yekaterinburg, as he had never been to Russia before arriving at URSMU to study economics.
"No one is in a hurry. They do not push (or) disturb anyone. There are fewer cars, the streets are spacious. And I like your climate. It is the same as in my hometown, so I feel at home," Sun told Yekaterinburg News.
Sun also shared his observation of Russian students, saying that they "are diligent in study."
"In China, we have more time for yourself. But here, we are studying in the morning and in the evening. But I look at the Russian students, and I long to make as much effort in the classroom," Sun said.