China, Education and Science, Estonia, Legislation

The recognition of diplomas agreement was signed in Riga, at the Asia-Europe Ministers of Education meeting.

Minister Jürgen Ligi said the agreement is an important step for Estonian higher education internationalization and a lack of the agreement has been an obstacle in cooperation between the two states' universities for many years. "Student mobility is a sign of the times, and all countries are making efforts to make it as easy as possible," said Ligi. "Asia has a significant impact on student migration. More than half of the world's foreign students come from there. The Asia-Europe Ministers of Education meeting provides a good opportunity for representatives of both regions' countries to discuss the education sector bottlenecks and offer jointly solutions to them."

86 Chinese students study in Estonian universities now. A total of 2,887 foreign students from 101 countries study in Estonian universities this year, forming 5.2% of the total number of students (55,214), and their number has increased over the last five years, more than three times.