China's Ministry of Education is pushing for overseas recognition of its national exam, which is already accepted in some foreign colleges, according to The Beijing News on Monday.

"What we want to do the most, and are already initiating, is to push foreign recognition for our education," says Yu Jihai, vice director of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges.

To encourage Chinese students to study abroad, the ministry will soon release its foreign education plan for 2015 to 2017, which is hoped to help China assemble top-notch elites in various fields.

The Chinese national exam is already embraced by several foreign education institutions across Australia, the US, Singapore, Italy and Spain. Among them are the University of Sydney and the University of San Francisco.

It is worth noting that when applying for foreign university entrance, a national exam grade is usually one of several criteria for assessment, said Xiong Bingqi, an education expert. Universities are unlikely to accept a student solely on national exam grades.