Two freshmen arrive at the Shanghai New York University in August to start their first semester at the China-US university, along with about 300 students from 40 countries.

Shanghai, arguably China's most energetic commercial hub, is sparing no effort in becoming an international education exchange center and one of Asia's most popular study destinations, city officials say.

"We want to build an international education city full of diverse culture attractions," said Yang Weiren, who works in international exchange and cooperation for the Shanghai Education Commission.

"This will not only improve Chinese students' understanding of the world and increase their ability to communicate with the world, but it will also help attract more international students here," he said.

Yang revealed that the city is working on becoming a cosmopolitan education city through seeking out international cooperation and establishing a series of high-level international schools, ranging from high schools to vocational schools and universities.

The latest step is the first China-US high school, co-established by Shanghai Qibao High and Dwight School in the United States.

The three-year boarding school will be open to Chinese and overseas students, and the first batch of 100 students will be enrolled in the fall of 2014, the school said.

"Students at Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School will be taught bilingually," said its president, Qiu Zhonghai. "The school will also adopt a credits system."

Courses will combine Western sciences and traditional Chinese education.

At the same time, the school will introduce the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, which provides students aged 16 to 19 with the internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education, recognized by many universities worldwide.

Overseas focus

The school is also part of the city's move in recent years to develop high-level cooperative high school education.

According to a development plan for 2011 to 2015, released last year by the Shanghai Education Commission, the city encourages its quality high schools to establish cooperation with overseas education bodies, schools and groups.

"We want to establish one to two China-overseas cooperative high schools," Yang said, referring to the five-year plan.

"Schools in Britain, Australia and Canada are all in our vision, but we pay more attention to their quality and performance, which may help drive the improvement of Shanghai's education level."

Last year, Shanghai New York University was founded as China's first China-US university as an independent legal entity, operated by New York University and Shanghai's East China Normal University.