The Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE) of the Ministry of Education has announced the introduction of a new online service. It handles applications by returnees seeking funding from the Ministry’s Scientific Research Start-up Fund for Returnees.
This is the first scientific research fund in China to introduce online application. Returnees can both apply for funds and be advised of the results of their applications online.
The fund itself was set up by the Ministry of Education in 1990 and provides financial aid to returnees to enable them to initiate scientific research. The fund is intended for returnees who already hold a doctorate and are under 45 years of age. To be eligible they must also have studied overseas for more than one year and have been working in education and scientific research since they returned to China.
9,456 returnees have already received financial aid to the value of almost RMB 400 million (US$48 million). With a variety of ways in which financial aid can be made available, together with a short evaluation period, the fund provides a quick and efficient service to returnees seeking to engage in scientific research.
Supported by the fund, many returnees have gone on to win funding for other projects, receive Provincial and even National Sci-tech Progress Awards, make technological breakthroughs and/or be granted national patents for their inventions. Many well-received academic publications have been generated.
Some have achieved prominence by being selected for the Cross-century Talent Project. They have developed their expertise in many branches of science and their ranks have produced famous scholars and leading figures in academic research.
It was in order to handle returnees’ applications to the Fund timely, that CSCSE introduced its new online application system. To access details of the application procedures, returnees should log on to the fund’s website at www.cscse.edu.cn.
By migrating to online application and evaluation, procedures have been simplified and timescales shortened. In addition, evaluations can be made on an ongoing basis throughout the year. Experts evaluate the applications and these are open and fair. The expertise necessary to undertake these evaluations can now be found not only from within the country but from all over the world.
(china.org.cn by Wang Qian, July 11, 2002)
