There are now more than 120,000 PhD students in China, second only to the United States and Germany. China's Ministry of Education has just come out with some interesting statistics about this.

The statistics say that in the 20 years since China started using the degree system, in 1981, 616,000 students have been granted Masters and 78,000 Doctor's degrees. At the moment, 370,000 Masters degree candidates and 120,000 Phd students are now doing their research on campus. Since 1998, the registration of postgraduates has shown a progressive increase of 20,000 a year. It's estimated that the number of on－campus postgraduates will be more than 600,000 next year. What's more, China's major universities, such as Tsinghua, Beijing and Fudan University, will concentrate on research－oriented universities, mainly educating graduate students.

In 2001, the ministry claims 40,000 students got Doctor's degrees in the United States, 30,000 in Germany and more than 12,000 in China. By the year of 2010, the number of China's PhD students is expected to reach 50,000.

(CCTV.COM 12/10/2002)