Attending international departments of Chinese high schools, which education specialists and insiders have called "study overseas without going abroad", has become increasingly popular among Chinese students in recent years.

At least one-third of public high schools in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai have launched their own international departments, which are separated from the domestic departments and offer international courses to students preparing for study overseas after they graduate, said Chen Zhiwen, editor-in-chief of eol.cn, a Chinese portal website on education.

Chen made the remarks in Beijing on Wednesday during a forum about studying overseas at an early age.