BEIJING, Oct. 17 -- Chinese high school students who plan to study in the United States will be able to take the American College Test (ACT) in China next year, according to the ongoing China Education Expo 2006 in Beijing.

At present, Chinese students have to travel to the United States and Hong Kong to take the test, or take training courses at a few schools in China designated by the ACT authorities before they are allowed to appear for the test in the schools.

The ACT is America' s most widely accepted college entrance exam and recognized by more than 3,300 American universities.

It assesses high school students' general educational development and their ability to complete college-level work.

The multiple-choice tests cover four skill areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science. The writing test, which is optional, measures skill in planning and writing a short essay.

With hundreds of thousands of Chinese college students taking the TOEFL and the GRE to get access to postgraduate programs at U.S. universities, a growing number of Chinese high school students are pinning their hopes on the ACT and the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) for undergraduate studies, which are known among Chinese students as the "U.S. college entrance examination."

China's annual National College Entrance Examinations are regarded as the fiercest academic competition in the world.

The ACT and SAT offer more hope for many students, who have several chances to take the tests in a year.

Since May 2005, more than 2,000 Chinese students have registered for ACT training courses and have taken the test.

Since 1978, more than 400,000 Chinese students have studied abroad, with more than 100,000 returning to the country over the last two decades.

Xiong Yutong, a staff member at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said the embassy did not have exact figures for Chinese high school students enrolled in U.S. universities.

She said that in theory U.S. universities can recruit as many foreign students as they want.

The students only need to have basic English skills and be able to foot the bill.

The increasing popularity of foreign college entrance tests in China has sparked worries of a "student brain drain" as universities outside the Chinese mainland, a sector that was once off-limits, are gradually being allowed to enroll more Chinese undergraduate students.

This summer more than 30,000 students applied to study in six Hong Kong-based universities that could take only 1,000 freshmen from the mainland.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily)