HAIKOU, April 2. /TASS/. The Lian public education innovation zone in Hainan's Lingshui Li Autonomous County is preparing to recruit students to branches of 16 leading foreign and Chinese universities located on its territory in September. According to the Hainan Daily, new international training programs will be introduced in a pilot mode within the walls of these educational institutions.

According to the publication, over the year, investments in infrastructure construction on the territory of this site exceeded 3.1 billion yuan (more than $ 472 million at the current exchange rate). Contractor companies built 17 university campuses using that money. It is assumed that about 10,000 students will study in the "Lian" zone.

“We stick to the principle of 'compact university - great knowledge.' Students seeking to immerse themselves in a foreign atmosphere can do so on Hainan,” said Assistant Manager of the Innovation Zone Luo Qing.

As she clarified, Chinese students will have the opportunity to study under the programs of foreign universities, while foreigners — to master specialties in accordance with the Chinese standards. Grades and academic performance will be mutually recognized regardless of whether it is an institution in China or an educational institution in another country, whose branches are registered in the southernmost province of China.

There are 11 experimental innovation zones on Hainan in the field of international public education. The Lian campus complex in Lingshui Li Autonomous County is one of them, its leadership signed an agreement to open local branches of the British University of Coventry and the University of Albert (Canada) at the end of 2019. Moreover, in this part of the island, regional branches of more than a dozen large state universities of China will soon begin to operate, including Nankai University (Tianjin city), the capital Chinese University of Communications, Beijing Sports University and the Southern University of Science and Technology (Shenzhen).