More than 20,000 returned students have started undertakings in Beijing after completing their studies abroad.

About 70,000 Beijing students went abroad for further study in the past two decades, and one-third returned to work in Beijing, according to official statistics.

Known as the “Silicon Valley” of China, the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park played host to 760 returned students as consultants this year.

Some 180 students have gone through all the necessary formalities and are making preparations for their new undertakings as a result of several preferential policies, esp-ecially on settlement and operation funds. More than 60 percent of the 180 have doctoral degrees.

To create a better environment for returned students, the municipal government has opened a number of high-tech development parks in various parts of the city and set up special service centers to satisfy their different demands.

Eighty percent of the 300,000 Chinese students currently studying overseas are willing to return. Sixty percent choose Beijing as the first desired place to develop their undertakings, according to a recent survey on employment.

(Eastday.com)