Zhang Qiyue, Chinese consul general in New York, gives remarks at the Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad Award ceremony on April 17 at the Chinese Consulate General in New York. Scholarships are given out annually to international Chinese students for outstanding achievement. [AMY HE / CHINA DAILY]

Dozens of international Chinese students have been honored with scholarships from the Chinese consulate general in New York.

Thirty-eight Chinese students were awarded $6,000 scholarships, which are administered annually by the Chinese Scholarship Council. One student received the top prize of $10,000, the Extraordinary Potential Prize.

All the students honored are under 40 years of age and have been involved in doctoral programs for more than a year. The students come from universities across America, including from Harvard, Cornell, Princeton and Columbia.

Every year, the scholarships are given to 500 Chinese students across the global.

"Meeting with you here today has brought back memories of my days as a students in New York, which was 40 years ago," said Zhang Qiyue, Chinese consul general in New York, during the awards ceremony on April 17 in New York.

"In 1974, I was one of the five middle school students coming from new China in the wake of the Nixon-Kissinger trip," she said. "There were five of us. At that time, China and the United States were at the stage of mutual estrangement and student exchange was virtually non-existent."

"However today, 40 years later, about 275,000 Chinese students are studying in the United States and China has become one of the most popular destinations for American students," she added.

The winner of the top prize was Wang Lei, a PhD candidate at Columbia University.

"As a Chinese student, I'm really honored to receive this award. The global scale of this award reflects the tremendous economic growth of the past 30 years," he said, delivering remarks on behalf of all the honorees.

"In recent years, China's economy is having a structural change for better growth in the long run," he said. "And I believe in this big transition, funding more on research and building top research labs in universities in China will play an extremely important role in this process, and I hope all overseas Chinese students can find good opportunities to participate and contribute in this process."

The scholarship, which was established in 2003 to honor overseas Chinese students who self-finance their graduate educations, is given to students based on academic and research achievements. All the winners go through at least three rounds of evaluation by experts in China and the US.

Cybele Raver, vice-provost of research and faculty affairs at New York University speaking on behalf of senior leadership of the universities represented at the ceremony, said that many US universities have "invested great effort" in opening campuses in China. New York University established a Shanghai campus in 2012 and its first class enrolled the following year.

"We have a true kinship with you in that we both hold education in the highest regard," said Raver. "Learning the extent to which both the institutions and families value higher education in China, we've been deeply moved by the level of investment and the willingness of Chinese institutions to build that partnership."

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com