China may surpass Britain as the world's second-largest destination for overseas students in the next few years. That's according to British newspaper The Independent.

China may become second-largest destination for overseas students

According to data from China's Ministry of Education, over 397-thousand overseas students from 202 countries and regions were studying in China in 2015. The number was up about 5.5 percent from a year earlier and puts China before Canada, Germany and France. The number of students studying for degrees accounts for over 46 percent of the totaland was growing at over 12 percent.

Beijing, Shanghai, and Zhejiang are the top three destinations.