Chinese State Councilor Chen Zhili Saturday said science and technology education should make due contribution to the rejuvenation of China's northeastern industrial base.

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology and other departments should adopt special policies to that end on the basis of study and research, said Chen, who visited several local institutions in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Education sectors should adjust education subjects and contents and foster a mass of technicians and operation and management talents, she said, also stressing the promotion of professional education.

Schools should introduce new education models, including "zero distance" education and "chain school" education according to market demands and find new economic growth areas, said Chen.

The revival of the northeast industrial base is the third most important long-term strategy of the Chinese government after the opening-up in the southeast 20 years ago and the develop-the-west policy five years ago.

Covering the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, the northeast region played a major role in the industrial development of China.

The northeast contributed to China's first batch of steel, machine tools, locomotives and planes after the founding of New China in 1949, and still has potential in these fields.

However, many of the traditional industrial enterprises that were established in the 1950s when China adopted a planned economic system, became less competitive and some have been losing money over the past 20 years.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2003)