Science and Education

For some years running, the province has taken a series of measures to reinforce the implementation of the strategy of prospering Shandong with science and education, boosting technological innovation, promoting hi-tech, and speeding up the industrialization of science and technology.

Shandong has always highly recognized the importance of education at different levels and of various types. Within the provincial territory, there are 52 general institutions of higher learning, including those administered by the state ministries, such as Shandong University, Qingdao Marine University and Petroleum University. In 2001, 26 institutions for graduate education enrolled 5,371 students; the total number of students for graduate programs reached 11,877. General institutions of higher learning admitted 184,000 students, the total registered student body reaching 449,000, among which 234,000 were bachelor program students and 216,000 2-3-year program students.

Adult students enrolled for diploma education of higher learning amounted to 256,000. Some 106,000 adult students were learning at various secondary specialized schools. A total of 270 entry schools enrolled 54,000 students and 90 percent of their graduates were employed the same year upon graduation. Various technical schools provided training programs for 7.393 million persons/times, including 6.802 million farmers. Also the same year, among over 200,000 people who received vocational assessment or craftsmanship identification, 170,000 were granted qualification certificates. In addition, 185,000 illiterate adults received education.

Scientific or technological innovation and invention are in the ascendancy all over the province. In 2001, there were 3,112 important achievements of scientific and technological value recorded, 19 items of which were honored as State-level achievements of science and technology, including one State Innovation Award, 18 items for the State Award of scientific and technological advancement. A total of 198 spark plan projects and 269 Torch Plan projects above provincial level were undertaken, including 101 items at State Level. Altogether, 11,168 patent applications were processed, indicating an increase of 11.5 percent over the previous year, and 6,724 patent applications were accredited. With the steady improvement of qualified scientists and technicians, the province was blessed with 29 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Science and the Chinese Society for Engineering, of whom 7 were added from the previous year.

Technical supervision was given added reinforcement. A total of 223,000 batches of products from 102,000 corporations were supervised and examined, with 74.3 percent of the samples being up to grade; 12 products were honored as China's name brands, and 25 as provincial quality products. Six manufactures were winners of the provincial-leveled quality management award; 123 manufactures were checked and accepted as being up to international standards or meeting advanced foreign criteria; 42 products adopted public bidding symbols.