《人才是宝贵的财富》

Talented people are a precious commodity

By Chai Hua (China Daily)

The government of Hunan province, like most other places, faced growing pressure from the field of education, so it decided to increase its activity in "developing the province through education".

So, it came up with regulations that were meant to make compulsory education more balanced. These included: better infrastructure to guarantee access to education among the more vulnerable members of society, ensuring that there were enough faculty, and that teaching quality was high.

The result has been considerably improved education and scientific development over the past five years, the government says.

By 2010, the province had 25,300 schools and 11.47 million students. The enrolment rate for elementary school children was an impressive 99.92 percent, and for junior high children, 99.96 percent.

Also by 2010, there were 60,975 teachers who had attended teachers training programs at the province level, and 6,064 college grads teaching in rural schools.

The number of teachers in both urban and rural areas had increased and the quality of teaching has improved.

The government has also increased spending on school construction. In the three-year period, 4.48 billion yuan ($689.9 million) was spent on construction and 3,693 schools were built. The province expects to build 10,000 schools by 2015.

More talented people

In addition to educating its citizens, the provincial government has established methods to attract more talented people from across the country and overseas.

Changsha, the provincial capital, will focus on attracting innovative, top technical and senior management people, and finance experts, said Zhang Jianfei, the city's mayor and Party head.

The idea is also to bring in companies in engineering, and the automotive, electronic communications, new materials, biomedical, high-tech, and securities and investment industries.

If foreigners decide to work in the city, they will see that the government appreciates their intelligence and hard work, according to one local government official.

It has even come up with a "Star city friendship award" to honor foreign experts who make a big contribution.

To provide an education for foreign experts' children, the city government also built an international school at a cost of 10 million yuan, in the economic development zone.

The province's advantages have attracted the attention of people from all over the world. The American President Barack Obama has even mentioned the fast computers and high-speed railways that are made in Hunan.

In a knowledge-based economy, talented personnel are a precious commodity and Hunan's decision makers said they will put much more effort into cultivating, attracting and retaining talented personnel.

The province already has around 5,000 overseas students and the government supported 327 university teachers in study-abroad programs during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010).

One of its most successful international exchange programs is the "Chinese Bridge" competition, a Chinese-language proficiency contest for foreign college students. This provides a stage for young foreigners to perform on, and increases international influences on the province's education.