Two prestigious Chinese universities have asked the office of the Saudi cultural attaché here to approve establishing chairs, for studying civilizations and religions, in the name of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. This anouncement was made by Saudi Cultural Attaché in China Dr. Salih Al-Saqri in a statement at the end of the Saudi Cultural Days, a five-day event in Beijing. He noted that the universities of International Business and Economics and Sun Yat-Sen made the request to recognize King Abdullah's service to humanity through his efforts to encourage dialogue among civilizations and followers of different religions and his role in developing education in the Kingdom. A number of Saudi students are studying at the University of International Business and Economics, which was established in 1951 and has more than 30,000 students, and at the University of Sun-Yat-Sen, which was established in 1924 and has more than 80,000 students. Dr. Al-Saqri said 600 Saudi students are on scholarship at 40 universities in China. The number of students is expected to jump to 3,000 in the next two years, he added. The diplomat pointed out that Chinese universities have signed more than 35 contracts with their Saudi counterparts for exchange of expertise and more than 30 Chinese universities have sought the enrollment of more Saudi students. He said Higher Education Minister Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari's 2009 visit to China, home to more than 3,000 universities, improved cultural and educational relations between the two countries. Seven Chinese universities have established special institutes for teaching Arabic, Dr. Al
