VOLUNTEERING: Zhang Wen from Capital Normal University in an internship program at the Stop Cancer Foundation in Abuja, Nigeria (COURTESY OF ZHANG WEN)

At an Ethiopian restaurant in Beijing last November, a Diplomacy for Non-Diplomats seminar was hosted by the group Young African Professionals and Students (YAPS). It was aimed at young people outside the foreign service circles.

"Cultural diplomacy is crucial to wipe out misconceptions and enhance understanding between Africans and Chinese at levels that go beyond politicians and diplomats," YAPS Executive Director Sebastião Carlos Coana said of the event. He is a 24-year-old Mozambican artist studying in Beijing.

More African youths – whether students or entrepreneurs – want to benefit from their stays in China, to establish careers grounded partnerships with the rising world power.

"On a day-to-day basis I think our relations are warm and friendly amongst youth, but we need to build more strategic exchanges," explained Tebogo Lefifi, the group's chairwoman. "Youth relations will impact the future of our countries' development."

Exchanges

China-Africa Youth Festival, the first youth exchange program under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), features youth cooperation forums and dialogues between Chinese and African youth leaders and entrepreneurs. Co-sponsored by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) and All-China Youth Federation, the festival was held in 2004, 2006 and 2009, and  more than 380 African youth delegates attended the festival.

Since the 1950s, China has promoted educational exchanges with Africa. Many young scholars study under Chinese Government-sponsored scholarship programs. In 2009 alone, 4,000 scholarships were granted to African students. The government has increased invitations to African master and Ph.D students, whose majors vary from agriculture, medicine and language study to education, economics, management and international politics.

In 2009, a total of 24 students from 15 developing countries, including Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Mali, finished a one-year Master Program in Public Policy (MPP) for Leaders in Developing Countries at Peking University. The program covers a wide range of subjects, cultivating practical management skills in public policy for developing countries.

Thirty-two-year-old Michael Mawuli Fiadzigbey, who graduated from the MPP program, currently works with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. For him, the program improved his ability to analyze public issues. "I learned about China's public relations management, and it helps me in my engagement with China," he said.

Other African students have reaped benefits from the two-year Global Business Journalism Program (MA) at Beijing-based Tsinghua University. One of them is 29-year-old Jonathan Gandari, who co-founded the consultancy firm HBI Media Services after graduating in 2010. Now he works as his company's communications director. "The education I got in China was the best journalism course. I now understand financial and business news discourses, and the education trained me to be a technocrat," he told ChinAfrica.

Gandari believes exchanges must focus more on learning business models and how to craft good economic and social policies to benefit the poor. "These exchanges are powerful in relations [between China and Africa]," he said. "My guess is future African leaders will be graduates from Chinese universities."

"I have learnt new ways to reach students, and how to be an effective teacher, especially in the classroom teaching and evaluation. It can help to improve the curriculum of Tanzania," said Magreth Columbani Komba, a Tanzanian who pursues a Ph.D in Curriculum and Pedagogy at Beijing Normal University.

Twenty-three-year-old Georges Ayuketang Arrey came to study in Dalian Maritime University in pursuit of his dream of a ship captain in 2009. "China is a rising power and a great country to study marine navigation. I believe the country's great potential as a leading economy and political force can be fully experienced by studying among students who will be leaders of tomorrow," he said.

By 2012, the Chinese Government will have increased the number of scholarships offered to Africans to 5,500, according to the FOCAC Sharm El Sheikh Action Plan (2010-12).

More cooperation has led some Chinese universities to establish African studies curriculums. Since 2008, the Ministry of Education has sent master and Ph.D students from those schools to Africa for advanced studies. The aim is to develop young researchers who understand African issues.