Shanghai Municipal Personnel Bureau has announced that over 4,000
professionals have moved to Shanghai in the last three months and
that the arrival of these new "Shanghainese," of whom at least 20
percent do not hold a university qualification, establishes the way
for an increasingly flexible recruitment policy.
This flexibility, according to the bureau, will focus on the
introduction of a much-needed skill and expertise resource for the
development of Shanghai. This flexibility is also to pay particular
attention to the fact that a person's skills or expertise may not
include a university education. A list of professionals required
for Shanghai will be made public annually in order to source these
experts from home as well as from abroad.
At
the center of this skills initiative is the Shanghai Academy of
Social Sciences, which has two main objectives in-hand to meet
these skills requirements. Firstly, to turn Shanghai into Asia's
principle human resource center for the highly-skilled, or talent
hub, by the year 2005. This will introduce to Shanghai a range of
professional backgrounds with different cultural experiences,
providing a cutting-edge workforce that can train and develop the
future domestic skill resource. Secondly, to establish Shanghai as
an international human resource hub for the highly-skilled by the
year 2015.
By
way of attracting new comers to the region, and as an expression of
its increasing flexibility, Shanghai has introduced a residence
certificate system to prospective residents. It is the first region
in China to operate such a system. The introduction of this system
reflects the fact that no longer is a university education or a
professional title required to enjoy some of the many benefits that
Shanghai can hold for the highly-skilled professional.
The fifth national population census suggests that the total number
of professionals in Shanghai has reached, approximately, 1.79
million. The ratio of secondary technicians and college students
for every 10,000 inhabitants is the highest in the whole of China.
By the end of 2001, it was calculated that experts from Hong Kong,
Macao, Taiwan as well as overseas who frequently spent time living
and working in Shanghai reached a level of 48,000, making it 40
percent of the total of experts working in China. Interestingly,
the number of students studying abroad who have returned to
Shanghai for a short time -- being newly qualified in their field
-- reached 20,000. This figure accounts for one fifth of the total
educational returnees to the state.
The impact of the accumulation of highly-skilled professionals on
the social and economic development of Shanghai has been
quantifiable and immense. For example, of the 383 professionals who
have studied abroad, 382 professional enterprises have been set up
in Shanghai with over 70 million yuan (US$8.5 million) registered
funds.
One of the effects of this professional upsurge has been the
raising and promotion of the technological standards of Shanghai.
For instance, the Semiconductor Manufacturing International
Corporation (SMIC), and Shanghai Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing
Corporation (SGSMC), in Zhangjiang
Hi-tech Park, are made up of internationally cutting-edge
technical teams. Among the 1,000 staff employed at SMIC, one fifth
have obtained doctorates or master's degree. Senior professionals,
that include those from the United States, Italy, Singapore as well
as from China's Taiwan Province, make up a quarter of the company
workforce.
Statistics show that among the 13 million inhabitants of Shanghai,
foreign residents with Shanghai citizenship total less then 10.
These statistics include the fact that only 50,000 foreigners stay
in Shanghai on a frequent basis and that this accounts for 0.4
percent of the total population. This does not compare favorably
with the international urban equivalent of a 15 to 20 percent
ratio.
It
is therefore seen as vital that one of the ways to boost the influx
of foreign professionals is to promote the city's reputation, and
value, as a multicultural center where people from all over the
world feel as comfortable as in any international city. Shanghai
has enacted a series of policies to set this in motion.
On
April 30, 2002, the Shanghai municipal government stipulated
temporary regulations for the "introduction of professionals to
practice Shanghai Residence Certificate." Thereafter people from
home or abroad who have a regular college education or who have
specific skills may work or establish an enterprise in Shanghai
without altering their citizenship status, or nationality, and can
apply for a Shanghai Residence Certificate according to its
regulations.
In
1992, those professionals who were introduced to Shanghai could
only hold a Temporary Residence Certificate and people who held
this certificate could not enjoy many of the benefits and treatment
as that given to the ordinary citizens of Shanghai. This included
exclusion from the state provision for a child's education and
social security.
The establishment of the Shanghai Residence Certificate and the
initiative to turn the city into a human resource hub for the
highly-skilled by 2005 reflects the increased demands placed on
international and cosmopolitan cities of today and the fact that
Shanghai is in-pace with the times.
(china.org.cn by Wang Qian, September 27, 2002))