A youth leadership development program has been launched in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, to facilitate academic exchanges between schools in Huangpu district and Britain's G5 group of public research universities.

The G5 institutions are Oxford University, Cambridge University, Imperial College London, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and University College London.

According to the program, the British universities will cooperate with Huangpu schools on visits, cross-cultural and international educational research, teacher training and academic exchanges.

Andrew Michael Gamble, an economics and political sciences professor at Cambridge University, visited South China Normal University's Affiliated Foreign Language School on Tuesday to share his views with teachers and students on developing talent.

Zhang Jianwu, director of the Huangpu educational commission, said, "We need more high-quality educational resources, as demand for top talent in the booming business district grows."

Huangpu will invest 8.4 billion yuan ($1.22 billion) to build 164 new primary and middle schools and kindergartens by the end of 2020, introducing more high-quality international educational resources, Zhang said.