Europe Challenges U.S. for Foreign Students

Continental universities add more courses in English and step up their recruiting

By AISHA LABI

Like many Chinese students, one of the first things Guo Weiqiang looked for when he decided to study abroad was a place where he could improve his language skills.

"Everyone wants to speak English in China," he says. But while many of his friends took the obvious route and applied to American universities, Mr. Weiqiang chose a different path: He decided to go to Finland.

His university in his home city of Beijing, the Capital University of Economics and Business, has several exchange programs with Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, in Helsinki, and all of the courses he wanted to take were in English.