Mar 24, 2014 12:18 PM EDT By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke to students at Stanford Center at Peking University about the importance of studying abroad, CNN reported.

On the second day of a week-long visit to China with her daughters, Obama lauded studying abroad as a key part of U.S. foreign policy and "encouraged students from all walks of life to consider joining the growing corps of citizen diplomats such study fosters," CNN reported.

"I'm here today because I know that our future depends on connections like these among young people like you across the globe," Obama said before Chinese and international students at the Stanford center. "We believe that relationships between nations aren't just about relationships between governments or leaders - they're about relationships between people, particularly young people."

Obama said that as student growing up in a working-class family, she never considered studying abroad and noted that many young people, especially those struggling to pay for school today, may also feel the same way.

"That's not acceptable, because study abroad shouldn't just be for students from certain backgrounds," she said.

Obama stressed that studying abroad is more than "just a fun way" to spend a semester. She said it is the key to success in the global economy.

"Because getting ahead in today's workplaces isn't just about getting good grades or test scores in schools, which are important," Obama said. "It's also about having real experience with the world beyond your borders - experience with languages, cultures and societies very different from your own."

During her speech she also spoke about the value of free speech and people hearing all sides of the argument, taking a thinly veiled swipe at China's media censorship.

"It is so important for information and ideas to flow freely over the Internet and through the media," Obama said, according to the New York Daily News. "Because that's how we discover the truth, that's how we learn what's really happening in our communities, in our country and our world."

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