After two decades of watching hundreds of thousands of its best and brightest students heading off to Western countries to take higher degrees, China is thrilled to be welcoming them back home.
Riding high on the new reverse brain drain trend, the Western Returned Scholars' Association (WRSA), the country's largest organization of its kind, which brings together returned students, is designing a new scheme to enhance its invaluable role in assisting students to better serve their homeland.
"We are working hard to attract more and more young people into our organization to keep pace with the times," WRSA President Ding Shisun told its directors' meeting, held at the weekend.
Wang Nai, executive vice-president of WRSA, told China Daily the association, in order to better accommodate new development, has initiated two chapters in recent years, the MBA (master of business administration) Association and the Chamber of Commerce.
"We have been preparing for the founding of the third one, Chapter of Experts in Hotel Management Industry, which is expected to debut in early January," Wang said.
Since 1978, when the government began to open the country to the outside world, more than 300,000 Chinese students have traveled abroad - mainly to North American and Western European countries - for graduate study.
Although many ended up settling overseas, China's booming market is reversing the brain drain and has drawn back home about 140,000 students. And the number is still rising.
Chinese students are also diversifying their destinations for further study. Even if many still make the United States their first choice, a growing number of scholars are heading to Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
WRSA will mark the 90th anniversary of its founding next year.
(China Daily December 9, 2002)
