The Singaporean government has granted full scholarships to 350 students from the People's Republic of China. The students will study in Singapore from between three and five years and receive bachelor degrees on graduation.

Under a bilateral agreement of educational co-operation and scholarly exchange, 200 of the students will major in mathematics, business management, physics, biology and finance, while another 150 will study nursing and physiotherapy.

The students will live and work in Singapore for at least six years after graduation.

The students, who were individually approved by the Singapore government, were chosen by the Chinese State Education Commission from those who had passed the Chinese national college entrance examinations this summer.

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Meanwhile, China is further strengthening its educational co-operation with Japan in the training of managers for small and medium businesses. In an agreement with the Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund, Chinese students and practising managers will learn the latest management techniques for surviving fierce market competition.

The Pounds 66.6 million fund is a non-government Japanese organisation promoting Sino-Japanese educational exchanges and economic co-operation.

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Besides exchanging students, over the next three years both sides will send experts in different aspects of small and medium business management to lecture at each other's institutions. Marketing, international financial market changes and corporate management are subjects high on the list.

According to Huang Dianwen of the China Centre for Business Co-operation and Co-ordination (CCBCC) the management of small and medium-sized businesses plays an important role in China's economic development. The managers of young rural enterprises in particular, need a certain kind of training and awareness that will enable them to develop and compete successfully in fiercely competitive home and overseas markets.