Next year China is to introduce 30,000 overseas specialists that the country is most in need of but who are in short supply, according to the country's Ministry of Personnel.

 

"The government is to fund the introduction of 10,000 economic and technical specialists and 20,000 educational, health and scientific specialists in 2007," said Minister of Personnel, Zhang Bolin.

 

Zhang said China should further explore international intelligence resources which have provided strong support to the country's overall development.

 

China has recruited a total of 400,000 specialists from overseas, Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan and dispatched nearly 40,000 qualified personnel to study overseas. The government would provide funding for 10,000 Chinese to study overseas in 2007, Zhang said. He called for more preferential policies for returning students from overseas so as to encourage them to come home.  

 

Since 1978 more than 400,000 Chinese students have studied abroad with over 100,000 returning to the country over the last two decades. Official statistics show that government scholarships have allowed 26,658 Chinese to study overseas since 1996 and 97 percent of them returned to China after completing their education.  

 

Most students go to top universities and research institutes in the US, Great Britain, Germany, Australia and Canada.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2006)