(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-28 16:47

BEIJING - The Ministry of Education required Chinese students who were sent abroad to study by the government to "serve the homeland for at least two years" after they finish their study, or else they must "pay back their tuition fees and expenditure originally paid by the government".

"Government-sponsored students abroad must return in time and work in China for a minimum of two years," said a new regulation issued on Friday on the management of government-funded students studying postgraduate degrees abroad.

The regulation orders complete repayment of tuition fees and expenditure and an additional penalty payment of about 30 percent of the entire educational investment by the government.

Any conduct breaching the contract between students and the government will suffer penalties, it warned.

The ministry also instructed institutions to create more opportunities and offer work-related guidance for returned students they had employed before their study abroad.

The government sent 26,658 people to study abroad from 1996 to September 2006, of whom about 97 percent returned in time.