The Joint Committee for Returned Overseas Students aims to provide more policy support and better information services to returned students, said Jiang Liping, director of the Overseas Study Department under the Ministry of Personnel.

Launched earlier last month, the joint committee brings together 12 government organizations including the ministries of personnel, education, science and technology, and finance.

The joint committee will hold a series of conferences every six months and additional meetings if necessary to enhance co-ordination and communication between different government organizations on attracting more overseas students back to China, Jiang said.

An increasing number of Chinese students have returned to the country in recent years after receiving their education overseas.

More than 18,000 students returned last year, up 47 per cent from the previous year, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Education.

More than 1,500 returned students have sought diploma authentication services at the China Service Center for Scholarly Exchange under the Ministry of Education since the beginning of this year, said Shao Wei, its deputy director.

"Returned students with higher technological knowledge and more advanced ideas of management have been the vital new force pushing forward China's modernization drive," Shao said.

More than 360 returned students and entrepreneurs have applied for the scientific start-up foundation provided by the Ministry of Education in the first three months of this year, Shao said.

Shao's center has set up 21 branch offices across the country and co-operated with local personnel and labor authorities to attract more students back to China.

By the end of last year, around 580,000 Chinese students had studied abroad since the country began implementing the opening-up policy in the late 1970s, official statistics show.

Statistics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences reveal the number of returned overseas students has increased by an average of 13 per cent annually over the past few years due to the government's various preferential policies.

The preferential policies mean banks, insurance firms and State-owned large enterprises will be able to use their own financial resources to attract talents.

(China Daily April 14, 2003)