Ten Chinese college students have been chosen to join in a Chinese-Norwegian arctic exploration at the end of the month.

In a final contest for choosing the expedition members held in Dalian, a port city in northeast China, on Saturday, ten college students from 8 universities across the nation won the opportunity among 30 candidates.

Since nation-wide contests were launched in December of last year, a total of more than 3,000 college students have applied for the expedition who had taken tests on physical, language and arctic knowledge as well as survival and scientific research abilities.

The chosen Chinese students will participate in the exploration to be held in Svalbard Islands for two weeks. They will carry out respective researches on biology, astronomy, physics, geography, climate and cultural issues in Chinese arctic Huanghe Station.

They will also visit the University of Svalbard of Norway to attend training program and exchange activities.

Two of the ten teammates are students from the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The exploration has been co-sponsored by International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 China Programme and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway.

Chen Lianzeng, vice director of China's State Oceanic Administration, said that the exploration will encourage more Chinese to pay attention to climate change and environmental issues of the earth.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2008)