Record numbers of American students are studying abroad, with especially strong growth in educational exchanges with China, the annual report by the Institute on International Education found.

The number of American students studying in China increased by 25 percent, and the number of Chinese students studying at American universities increased by 20 percent last year, according to the report, “Open Doors 2008.”

“Interest in China is growing dramatically, and I think we’ll see even sharper increases in next year’s report,” said Allan Goodman, president of the institute. “People used to go to China to study the history and language, and many still do, but with China looming so large in all our futures, there’s been a real shift, and more students go for an understanding of what’s happening economically and politically.”

While the traditional study-abroad sites for Americans — Britain, Italy, Spain and France — still attract more students from the United States, the report found that China is the fifth-most-popular desti- nation.

In the 2006-07 academic year, the latest for which figures are available, 11,064 Americans studied in China, a large jump from 1995-96, when only 1,396 Americans studied there. This year, 218 students applied for money to study in China from Gilman International Scholarships offered by the State Department, compared with 114 applications for the 2006-07 academic year.