BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The following are the highlights of China's key education news from the past week:

-- Chinese mainland suspends allowing students to pursue higher education in Taiwan

The Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that the mainland has decided to suspend allowing graduates at schools of all levels to further their study in Taiwan in 2020.

The decision has been made after considering the situations of COVID-19 prevention and control and the cross-Strait relations, said the ministry.

For mainland students who are currently studying in Taiwan universities, they can choose to further their study on the island if they are willing to, it added.

-- China to offer global students online courses in English

China's universities and colleges will offer a number of high-quality courses in English to global students via an international online teaching platform to promote the massive online open course.

The international platform is still under construction, and two online teaching websites, www.icourse.cn and https://next.xuetangx.com/, were first included in the program, Wu Yan, a higher education official from the MOE, said at a video conference held in Beijing.

-- University Leaders Dialogue on COVID-19 held online

A dialogue on the COVID-19 epidemic was held online on Wednesday, which attracted representatives of more than 40 universities from 18 countries and regions in the world.

The representatives from Yale University, Edinburgh University, Peking University, and other universities worldwide attended the dialogue through online video conference to discuss the missions and responsibilities of universities in the global combat against the virus. Enditem