Starting from the fall semester, foreign undergraduates and post-graduates studying in east China's Jiangsu Province can apply for a government scholarship that aims to advance the education of outstanding foreign students.

The Jasmine Scholarship, initiated by Jiangsu Provincial Government, was the first official scholarship targeting foreign students in Jiangsu and would be awarded annually, said director Shen Jian of the Provincial Education Bureau Thursday.

Under the scholarship management method released by the Financial Department of Jiangsu, every graduate recipient will receive 30,000 yuan (4,400 U.S. dollars) per year and every approved undergraduate student will get a yearly 20,000 yuan (2,950 U.S. dollars).

All full-time foreign students studying in local colleges can apply for the scholarship so long as they are not otherwise financed by the Chinese government.

The quota of awardees will vary annually according to the number of candidates proposed by local institutions of higher education and be jointly decided by the provincial education and financial departments.

The method stipulates that institutions of higher education should extend the award to winners in a single lump sum before Oct. 30.

Official statistics show more than 12,000 foreign students are studying in the province's 54 universities, which have a total of 1.76 million registered students.

Last year, approximately 230,000 foreigners were studying in China according to the Ministry of Education.