Universities of U.S. and U.K. may still occupy top spots in major college rankings, but their counterparts in Asia are not far behind.

University of Honk Kong, National University of Singapore, Peking University are giving tough fight to the universities in the west, though they have a long way to go.

In an attempt to improve their native country's education system, the universities Asia have been visiting top universities of U.S. to incorporate new methods and to recognize their own shortcomings.

The students of Peking University, Beijing, China recently visited Harvard University to get a first-hand experience of American Education system.

The Harvard China Fund hosted a group of 15 students from Peking University on a 10-day trip where the students not only took a peek at the system here, but also learned a thing or two about social entrepreneurship.

"China is more about lecture and relying on memory. The Americans' way is more encouraging creativity and encourage [sic] freedom of thinking," said Maggie Zong, Associate Director of the Harvard China Fund.

The Harvard China Fund enables cross-cultural inspiration to travel in both directions. It funds faculty research about China, runs summer programs for Harvard students in Asia, and maintains the Harvard Shanghai Center, the university's physical presence in China.

According to the Harvard's student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, their journey 'inspired some students to develop their own plans to reform Chinese education.'

The students seemed excited by the new educational milieu of U.S.

"What amazed me a lot is that for U.S. education, there are so many ways of designing your own path," said Peking University student Zie Gijia.

"There's this simple and uniform way of people's way of thinking of success [in China]."

She also shared the initial intention of the Peking officials who wanted the trip to be more lecture based, reflective of the nation's education theory-based approach. But, she suggested they go on field trips too.

Her classmates were appreciative of increased student participation in classrooms and also the 'sense of humor' of students.

Apart from Harvard classrooms, the students also visited many institutions in and around the Boston area.

However, the students were mainly impressed and inspired by the visit to the Cambridge Innovation Center, an office space that hosts more than 450 start-up companies.

"I learned about how even the simplest ideas with actualization could make a big difference and change the world," said one of the students Gu Yixin.

Apparently, Peking University selected the students for the trip out of several hundred applicants. Majority of the 15 students were undergraduates.