Interest in China is growing dramatically among American students, with a year-on-year increase of 25.3 percent this year, the American Center for Educational Exchange (ACEE) said Thursday.

"China is emerging as an ever popular destination for American students, with numbers steadily rising over the past few years," Frank Mok, educational resource coordinator of the ACEE, told a press meeting in Beijing.

A report, Open Door 2008, released by the Institute on International Education on Tuesday said China is the fifth-most-popular destination, up from 7th last year.

The figures show that 11,064 Americans are currently studying in China.

This year, 218 students applied for money to study in China from Gilman International Scholarships offered by the US State Department, compared with 114 applications for the 2006-7 academic year, the New York Times reported on Monday.

Applications to programs like the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies, a consortium of 13 American universities, have skyrocketed.

More and more American students pick economics related subjects in China, Mok said. "People used to go to China to study the cultural, language, or traditional Chinese medicine," he said.

"Now, American students have an interest in economic subjects, as China's economy has boomed in recent years," he said.

The report also said 81,127 students from the mainland are studying in the US, an increase of 20 percent from last year.

"This number is impressive, and I believe a steadily increase would be in next years' report," Mok said.

"The past two months are not a peak time for Chinese applications, so it is too early to talk about the influence of global economic crisis on the international education market," he said.

"American universities lure Chinese students with their high reputations for education and research resources."

"We don't have any limit on numbers for qualified Chinese students in regard of the visas issued," Margaret Hsiang, vice-consul of American Embassy in China, said Thursday.

"Figures show that four out of five Chinese who apply for visas get them," she said.

This year, the US Department of State issued almost 40 percent more student and exchange visitor visas to Chinese nationals than in 2007, which was also up 40 percent on 2006, Hsiang said.