“I don’t feel China is a foreign country,” says Rabbiya Saba, 19, from Pakistan’s east Punjab, studying in China’s Sichuan Province in pursuit to bachelor’s degree in medicine. 

She said she adjusted to life in China much earlier than expected mainly due to the hospitality of the Chinese people.

We get great respect here. We have a separate class of 50 students in the university here. Most of our teachers are also Pakistanis so there is no language or cultural barrier here.” Saba said.

Apart from Saba and her friends, there are some 22,000 Pakistani students studying in various majors in China. In 2017 alone, about 2,500 new Pakistani students were enrolled in China, according to a recent statistics released by the Pakistani embassy in China.

A candidate can get medical degree from China in less than $US30,000 dollars including dormitory charges whereas in Pakistan the tuition fee alone costs students over $US80,000 dollars.

According to latest statistics of Pakistani embassy in Beijing, currently, 2,700 Pakistani students are pursuing masters and doctorate degrees in top Chinese universities on fully funded scholarships sponsored by the Chinese government.