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))