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New Policies to Be Issued to Lure Overseas Students Home
China is to formulate new policies to create a sound environment for the home-coming of Chinese students studying abroad, said Song Defu, minister of personnel, at a national conference on the issue which opened in Beijing Friday.
China hopes to attract some 10,000 of these student back home annually during the period of 2001-2005, said the official, adding that Chinese students studying in foreign countries are an important component of the country's store of professionals.
To lure back the students is of profound historic importance, Song said. The government is encouraging banks, insurance companies, securities firms and large state-owned enterprises to employ these students, according to the minister.
In his speech, Song mentioned some preferential policies for the students, saying that those who participate in major research projects can receive financial assistance from the government and can even maintain their green cards issued by their countries of residence.
They should be paid according to their abilities and contributions and are allowed to remit their legal income abroad, he said, adding that after they return to China to work, their spouses and children can also be helped by the local government.
The minister said it will be a long and difficult task to attract the overseas students and create a favorable environment for them, adding that departments concerned should stick to the state policy of "supporting students studying overseas, encouraging them to return and let them decide for themselves whether to come or go."
During the 1872-1978 period, China dispatched some 130,000 students abroad for schooling, while during the 1978-1999 period, more than 320,000 Chinese went abroad to further their studies, out of whom more than 110,000 returned home.
According to the minister, the total number of returning overseas students each year has been increasing at an annual rate of more than 13 percent in recent years.
In the past ten years, the ministry of personnel has funded more than 4,000 returned overseas students for their scientific research projects, and provided more than 100 million yuan in funding for more than 1,000 of the students to return and serve the motherland on short-term projects.
The minister said that in the coming years, his ministry will join hands with the ministries of science and technology and education to provide "new venture parks" for the returned overseas students.
Song encouraged these students to make greater contributions to the development of western China, adding that the ministry is scheduled to organize five to ten groups of overseas students within the year to conduct business tours of those regions.
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