During his visit to China last month, US President Barack Obama said he expects to intensify cooperation in student exchange and hopes the number of US students in China will rise to 100,000.

Obama's statement was made as a growing number of foreign students are already flocking to China to study in various higher learning institutions. The miraculous growth of China over the past three decades has made the country one of the top destinations for international students.

The first program in the capital city to meet fledgling demand as the nation continued on its path of reform and opening was the Beijing International MBA (BiMBA) at Peking University, begun in 1998 as the first joint international MBA program in Beijing approved by the Chinese government.