BEIJING, July 2  -- Britain and China have seen significant step forward in exchanges in the education sector in the past years, British Ambassador to China Sebastian Wood said in Beijing on Tuesday.

"For many years, the Chinese students have been the largest group among all foreign students in the UK," the ambassador told Xinhuanet in an exclusive interview, adding that the number is continuously increasing every year.

More than 100,000 Chinese students went to Britain for further study in 2013, compared with 16 in 1973 when the two governments started student exchange programs. China has become Britain's largest country of origin for international students.

Meanwhile, the British government also attached great importance to promoting education exchanges between the two countries, he stressed.

The British Council has launched a flagship program, called Generation UK, in 2013, which aims to boost the number of British students participating in study and internship program in China. The program is expected to see around 80,000 British students flock to China by 2020.

Talking about how to keep up the teaching quality with the rise in the number international students in the UK, the ambassador expressed his confidence in the British educational system.

"I think that the British education is a very strong brand and has very strong reputation internationally," he said, "We have independent quality assurance systems and bodies which look at university courses in the UK and assess them for their quality. We have also got encouraging international survey data."

According to the Global Employer Survey conduced by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), which is a British company specializing in education and study abroad, British graduates were rated by 27,000 different employers around the world as the most employable in 2013.

The ambassador also noted British government provides working opportunities to Chinese graduates in the UK.

"What we’re trying to do is to put wide-range British companies more systematically in touch with Chinese graduates. Because I think it’s beneficial for the Chinese graduates and students, but also beneficial for the Britain." he said.