Chinese universities will see more and more high-level personnel, with the launching of a national program to attract talent from home and abroad.

Li Weihong, director of the personnel division with the Ministry of Education, announced in Beijing Thursday the start of the program, which will invite 100 professors, 100 scholars, 60 expertise teams, 1,000 young scholars and over 10,000 young teachers in China each year.

Li noted that scientific and technological innovation is making increasing contribution to economic growth.

Statistics showed that contributions of science and technological advancement accounted for less than 10 percent of economic progress in agricultural society, and 40 percent in the later days of industrial society. And in a knowledge-oriented time, it has reached to as high as 80 percent.

In recent years, China has also seen rapid progress in higher education and personnel cultivation, said Li. Currently, China has a total of 725,000 university teachers, among whom those with doctoral degrees and post-graduate degrees accounted for 54,000 and 183,000, respectively.

Some 523 Chinese academicians, about 38.7 percent of the country's total, gave lessons on campus. Apart from that, a series of personnel awarding programs also attracted excellent overseas students to work for universities and colleges.

However, the level of Chinese universities in terms of academic subject and study is still lagging behind their counterparts in developed countries, Li stressed.

To comply with the new program, Li said the evaluation system of personnel, as well as the recruitment mechanism of universities will all make changes.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2004)