Education secretary sealed agreement that saw nearly 500 Chinese students head to Britain in 1979

Before 1978, only a few dozen Chinese students had attended British universities, but that changed the following year, when hundreds made the journey.

The turnaround followed a visit to China by then UK education secretary Shirley Williams in July 1978, just as the country was embarking on reform and opening-up. She urged China to embrace foreign thinking and education.

One visible sign of change after Deng Xiaoping became the nation's leader in the late 1970s was the realization that foreign knowledge would aid modernization.

As a result, the Chinese government invited a British delegation, led by Williams, to discuss how more Chinese students could enroll at British universities, allowing China to catch up with Western technology.

Looking back, "it was a huge step", Williams said. "It was recognition that China is part of the global world. And it was a move toward being internationally recognized, because, for quite a long time, China didn't think it could learn from other countries anymore."

The change demonstrated China's commitment to building new international relations and encouraging its businesspeople to interact with the British market system.

Williams lauded Deng's contribution to the reform process, saying: "Deng was an amazing leader and he opened the doors. Not only did he talk about China to the West, but he also talked about the West to China. He was a remarkable and successful leader."

Recalling her first visit, Williams said she was met by the equivalent of the minister of education, quite a few civil servants and lots of head teachers.

"Education can be a rather closed world, and they were all fascinated," she said. "They just loved sitting there and talking, limited by translation obviously."

Translation was provided by her niece, who was studying Mandarin in China at the time. "My niece was able to say, 'You ought to ask about that (issue) because they haven't touched on that yet,'" she joked.

She said that during her 1978 visit, the dialogue with the Chinese government was mainly about primary education.