Ninety-four professors were honored under the Cheung Kong Scholars Program (CKSP) of the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE) in Beijing Thursday, and 115 young teachers from 68 universities received the national award for excellent teaching.
Minister of Education Chen Zhili said at the awards ceremony at the Great Hall of the People that the CKSP was jointly launched in1998 by the MOE and Li Ka-shing Foundation.
It had made great contributions to enhancing the academic levels of higher education institutes, and gained wide acclaim from domestic and overseas academics. So far, 537 people had received awards under the program. Since 1999, the MOE had also awarded 429 young teachers.
Chen said the experience of the last five years showed high-level personnel awards were essential for China to meet the international competition for talent. It not only attracted and encouraged teaching staff, but also boosted the reform of Chinese universities.
She emphasized that high-level personnel resources should be optimized, so that China could make breakthroughs in key science and technology fields.
She hoped more Chinese personnel could be attracted by the CKSP and work for Chinese universities.
(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2003)
