Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2014, 2, 1-5
Published Online September 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jss
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jss.2014.29001
How to cite this paper: Wang, L.Y. (2014) Research and Countermeasures of Management of the High-Level Overseas Tal-
ents. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2, 1-5. h ttp: //d x.d oi.org/10.4236/j s s. 2014.29001
Research and Countermeasures of
Management of the High-Level
Overseas Talents
Liangyu Wang
Beijing Aeronautical Science & Technology Research Institute of COMAC, Be ijing, China
Email: goodjade@163.com
Received March 2014
Abstract
This paper analy z e s the very iss ue of reserving high-level overseas talents in domestic. Reserva-
tion of the se talents is not just beneficial from local development but it is indeed part of nati onal
strategy. Not simple as it seems, the implement ation of ove rseas ta le n ts is complex to cope wi t h,
whi ch req ui res agility and patience. We have listed several examples of successful local counter-
measures and discussed the main potential problem in introducing high-level overse as talents.
Keywords
High-Level Overseas Talents, Strategy
1. Introduction
Brain circulation is of critical importance to thegiant peripheryof China, which is increasingly seeing its
knowledge diaspora as an important resource that is keen to deploy, in the interests of the development of the
motherland. But the benefits can be mutual, as highly skilled Chinese help build knowledge bridges between
China and their country of residence [1].
In condition of the great technologica l advancements and deepened economic globalization, we know that
whoever takes the talent resources into h is hands can keep th e lasting development of economics and society.
Before the end of the allocatio n of the talen t resources, in China, from the na tion to local th e government has in-
troduced various policy measures to attract high-level overseas talents to start a business or work in the domestic
enterprise, in order to pursue efforts to introduce the talents. In recently, the enthusias m of the overseas talents to
work home is gradually increased, they made a gr eat contribution in improving the domestic technology level,
management level, the innovation ability and the adjustment of economic structure. But with the deepening of
the introduction, how to use well the talents and how to detain them have become common problems. It also
becomes the key of the lasting development of economics and society both nationally and locally.
2. The Current Situation of Introduction
The pro fes s or of the international institute in Stanfo rd Univer sity named Miller pointed that: knowledge econo-
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my is an economy of talent. Talent problem is related to the national comprehensive competitiveness, the value
of the talents’ creation is far more than w hich of its input and it has become the con sensu s in various countries in
the word. In today, the most sought-a fter thing is th e human resources with international competitiveness;
therefore talent work has been raised to the height of national strategy.
With the aid of globalization, th e wor ld has formed a talent market with circulation each other, governments
and enterprises are also prompting fierce talent competition [2].
Our country from the center to local has gradually considered the introduction of high-level overseas talents
as an important strategic task. Nationa lly, since reform and opening up, especially in 2008, the General Office of
CCCPC (The Central Committee of the Communist Party) proclaimed “the opinion to the high-level o verseas
talents introduction plan”, set the direction and the key point of the introduction. It is a powerful guarantee for
overseas talent in China form the system and policy.
2.1. The Measures to Introduce High-Level Overseas Talents in the Center
According to “the opinion to the plan of high-lev el overseas talents introduction”, the center, the relevant de-
partments and the local has organized hierarchically the implementation of the high-level overseas talents intr o-
duction plan, for sho rt, it is named “The Recruitment Program of Global Experts”. For better accomplishment
the national development strategy, during 5 - 10 years after 2008 we introduce and give propriety to support a
group of strategic scientists and leading talents who can break through the k ey techno log y, develop the high-t ech
industries and drive the emerging disciplines to do pioneering work mainly in the state key innovative projects,
in the domain of key disciplines, in the state key laboratory, in the central enterprises and state-owned commer-
cial financial institutions, in the high-tech industry development zone and so on. In eligible state-owned ent er-
pris e s, universities, scientif ic resear ch institution s and part of the n ation al high-t ech industrial development zone,
we established a high-level overseas talents base for promoting the close combination of production, research
and learning; exploring ways to establish common internationa l scientific research and technology development
and entrepreneurship mechanism; gathering a group of overseas high-level innovative entrep reneu rial talent and
team. For this task, the central government and the relevant department have seized the opportunity of introduc-
tion; intensify efforts to implement the “The Recr u itment Progr am of Global Experts” and have introduced three
batch including 662 innovative overseas talents. At present , the fourth b atch of “The Recruitment Program of
Global Experts” is ongoing . Th ere are a number of world famous scientific and leader of technological innova-
tion included in the introduced overseas talents. The profe sso r, Yishi Chen is one of the founders of the Boltz-
mann numerical method, is introduced in Beijing University. BUAA has introduce d a Russian professor who is
the academician of European Academy of sciences, the academician of Russian Academy of sciences and the
director of Russian Scientific Research institute of Computation and Simulation. Besides the talents in the
science and technology, “The Recru itment Progr am of Global Experts” has also introduced the high-l evel talents
in management of economy. In general, the introduced high-level overseas talents work in universities, scientif ic
research institutes, en t erpr ises and fin ancial ins titutio ns. In tho s e introduced overseas talents, there are 509 in-
novative talents, 503 ones for starting a startup; 448 ones who have got foreign nationalities and 20 foreigne r s.
There are 293 professors, 9 associate professors and 72 researchers who have worked in Harvard University,
Massachusetts institute of technology and Bell laboratory have introduced in China. 75 high-level researchers
and 43 high-level managers who have worked in multinational corporations and famous financial institutions
have been introduced at home.
The implementatio n of “The Recruitment Progra m of Global Experts”, has forcefully promoted the introduc-
tion work all around the country. Except Xinjiang, Tibet, other provinces have implemented their own plan. In
Beijing, th ere is “Overseas Talents Program”; in Sh angha i, th er e is “one thousa nd people in Shanghai”. De-
pending on th e d istr ibutio n of the introduced talents, the number of talents in the first six provinces and cities are:
Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hubei, Guangdong and Zhejiang.
In addition, the ministry of education actively implements th e “Cheung Kong Scholar s Program”. In the re-
cent ten years, 115 institutions of higher learning have recruited 1308 Cheung Kong Scholars, in which 905 are
Distinguished Professors and 403 Chair Professors. 90 percent of the Distinguished Professors have overse as
study or working experience. The Ch air Prof ess or s are all recruited overseas. According to China’s ministry of
education, in 2008 more than 50,000 students abro ad returned home which is one times than fou r y ears ago. The
total number of overseas talents is nearly 32,000, in recent years the number of high-level overseas talents has
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greatly increased.
2.2. The Current Situation and the Measures of the Introduction in Shanxi Province
For encouraging and attracting the high-level overseas talents to start a startup, work and serve, for further ad-
vancing the strategy of human r esour ces, for promoting the transformation of science and technolog y in nov ation
achievements into real production forces, for improving the innovative ability in the base and the latest research
field, Shanxi has decided starting in 2009 in 5 - 10 years to introduce 200 - 300 high-level overseas talents to
work and live in Shanxi.
In addition, Xian has implemented the “plan 52 11 ” to introduce the talents. Starting in 2009, Xian will use
near 5 years, divide three levels to do this: according to the central government, introducing 20 high-level over-
seas talents who meet the “one thousand people plan”; according to Shaanxi province, introducing 100 high-
level overseas talents who meet “one hundred people plan”; according to the development of economy and so-
ciety of Shaanxi, based on the talents requirement of the “five leading industries”, introducing 1000 urgently
needed talents in the domain of new and high technology industries, modern equipment manufacturing, tourism,
modern serv ice industry, cultu ral indu str y, aerospace, biolog ical engineering, new energy, new materials,
finance, management and law.
In 2010, Xian has started th e “5211 plan” for introducing high-level overseas talents, a nd w ould lik e to attract
1000 talents dur ing five years to live and work in Xian promoting the development of science and economy. For
the introduction of Xian, it mainly focuses on the key industry development, the key projects, introduces the ur-
gently needed talents and focuses on the introduction of the overseas high-level innovative talents and teams
which do the scientific research, the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, the operation
and management and so on. At the same time, Xi an should change the mechanism of the relevant departments,
construct platform for entrepreneurship, and create a good environment and atmosphere, effectively play a posi-
tive role to the construction of Xian interna tion al metropolis.
According to the d ifferent characteristics of the talent introduction, we adopt special policies and measures,
and arrange the work and the treatment of life. For who is very excellent and urgently needed, we even could
have one person one policy. We should not only pay attention to the introduction w ork , but also th e management
and the service of the ones have in trodu ce d in China.
2.3. The Contribution of the High-Level Overseas Talents to Local Science and Economy
The high-level overseas talents have made a great contribution to the national and local technology innovation
and the transformation of the economic structure. Depending on the statistical data, at present 72 percent of the
leaders of the state key projec ts ar e overseas talents, 81 per cent academician of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences and 54 percent academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering are overseas returnee. In nearly
60 Overseas Students Pioneer Park, there are more than 5000 enterprises with annual output value of more than
10 billion Yuan. In 2006, 67 percent of the first authors of the project of National Natural Science Award Win-
ners are overseas talents; 40 percent of the first authors of State Technological Invention Award are overseas
talents; 30 percent of the first authors of National Prize for progress in science and technology project ar e over-
seas talents [3].
For the overseas talents, especially the leading talents, it is very important to have a good environment which
the policies and the measures can support their career; for the regions in where the government implements the
introduction want to attract the talents wh i ch ar e innovativ e and good fo r the local development and improve the
comprehensive strength. Therefore, we should build National high-tech industrial park , increase capital invest-
ment, d eclare the suppo r ting po licies, and optimize the environment of innovative undertaking and so on. The
attracted talents always have the innovative achievements and independent intellectual property rights w ith
modern management philosophy and are good at opera ting resources. They can promote the construction of the
local and because of this it will attract more and more high-level overseas talents. At the same time, they are the
key to break through the technological difficulty, improve the high-tech industries and are very important to
some emerging disciplines. They play an important role in the promoting the local Science and technology in-
novation ability and the upgrading of industrial structure. In a word, introduction of the overseas talents is the
right decision no matter for national or local technology and economy; it will promote economic and social de-
velopment rapidly and soundly; it is very important for building a well-off society in an all-round way, besid es it
L. Y. Wang
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will establish talent competition advantage, and enhance core competitiveness.
3. The Main Problem of the Introduction of High-Level Overseas Talents
The former minister of commerce has said that “jus t as the company recruits the best employees, universities
admit the best students; our state will do our best to detain the leading talents”. In those days the introduction
work is effective, but how to adapt to the structur e of the industry and how to detain the talents have become the
common problems. For example, in some regions, the introduction work was regardless the local condition with
certain blindness; they over emphasized the number, but they did not consider the overall cond ition and overall
plan which made the in trod uced talents had not the app ropr iate s ituation s and the ones which the local really
needed were not introduced. Some of the overseas talents did not succeed in starting a business and some over-
seas returnees had to return board [4].
For how to introduc e, retain and use, the Jiangsu Zhejian g Shanghai area has some successful practices. For
example, the “Pujiang talent plan” in Shanghai, the government has input 40 billion every year to fund the per-
son and the team which return to Shanghai to work and live; Changzhou give 1 - 4 billion to the overseas retur-
nee. Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai have strengthened the construction of the startup hub for the overseas tal-
ents to create professional platf or m for the introduction of overseas talents. In Zhejiang, it formed a pioneer park
which Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou is considered as the center and they will drive all the pioneer parks in the
whole provin ce including Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxin, Jinhua, those 7 n ationa l pioneer park
and Ningbo, Jiaxin thos e tw o local p ioneer park. Offering well qualified and consider able serv ice is a very im-
portant issue in entrepreneurship for talents [5]. In Changzhou, we have founded “platform of financing for en-
terprises founded by oversea talents” to assure 30 million Yuan as financing, to help with financial difficulty in
initial stage; we’ve also founded “Card for oversea talents of Changzhou”, including social insurance, technolo-
gy, national tax, landed duty etc. in total 10 green channels of service, all destined for better service on overs ea
talents who have ambitions to make business.
4. Management Strategy and Suggestion of High-Level Oversea Talents
4.1. Introducing Respective Talents to Respective Sector in Order to Adapt to the
Mutation of Industry Structure
Though some places have already valid many kinds of policy, and they truly have attracted a lot of high-level
oversea talents. But governments have ignored the whole structure of industry, causing ex cessive talents in cer-
tain sector meanwhile the very lack of high qualified labor is still there. Th erefore, we must have in mind
“scientific development” with introducing oversea talents and consid er the industry structure and local need in
talents. In this way, we have our talents filter ed and better used. If possible, we can rely on high-tech exploring
center, park of oversea talents’ enterprises, university technological p ark etc. to attract oversea talents.
4.2. Government Must Solve Oversea Talents’ Problem
Some oversea talents come back to st art their own enterp rises w ith only a f ew ideas, several paten ts or techno lo-
gical achievements, however, financial problem is the biggest problem. Direct funding of government cannot
hold long and ther e are few organizations to finance for oversea enterpris es [6]. Therefore, the government must
change its view by helping these organizations to finance more, by caring about talents’ difficulty, such as im-
migration issues, lodgment, children’s education, insurance etc., to make them at home, help them out, and then
help them to concentrate on innovation or business.
4.3. Preferential Policy’s Slope
Example of Jiangsu province is worth a look: To attract more oversea talents to come to Jiangsu province to
make business, on July 13th 2011, the government has valid “policy of residence permit for overs ea talents”. By
this policy, residence permit is parallel to identity card and preferential policy. This has helped out their prob-
lems in life as well as them in business. Afte r this policy, oversea doctors who meet the demands can get a resi-
dent permit signed by local government. With the permit, we can get funds, children’s education, business li-
cense etc. in total 14 policies . So far there are more than 50 thousand overseas making businesses in Jiangsu.
L. Y. Wang
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4.4. Establishment of Good Mechanism for Introducing, Keeping and Using
Introducing talents is a long term mechanism. We must take it as a long term strategic engineer. For achieving
this goal, we should establish good mechanism for introducing, keeping and using. On introduction, we must
pay attention to p olicy, environment, emotion and salary issues, exploring the giant market of oversea talents.
Introduce them, keep them and make full use of the m [7]. By having “honor knowledge, respect talents, encou-
rages business” in mind, we hope to have talents coming, functioning and achieving in the end local sustainable
development.
5. Conclusion
With discussions above, we can but conclude the complexity of this implementation. We observe that counter-
measures that have certain success must adapt to local commercial and social situation and they all need streng-
thened support of local government. Therefore, this is a local government issue rather than something that can
be adaptable anywhere. By analyzing and learn ing fro m existing countermeasures, we can develop other coun-
termeasure in other regions of China.
References
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