Taking universities as a new battlefield for their recruitment, overseas companies rush to provide scholarships to local higher educational institutions, today's Wen Hui Daily reported. 

Nearly half of scholarships in Shanghai's universities are launched by foreign enterprises, the report said, citing a survey from a local university.

By the end of last year, foreigners funded more than 20 out of the 68 school-level scholarships at Shanghai Jiao Tong, a local prestige university, and in Fudan, another key university, foreign-invested companies sponsored 18 of its 45 scholarships.

In Tongji, half of the 30-plus enterprise funded scholarships are from overseas firms.

Samsung Group, an electronic conglomerate of the Republic of Korea, has started to launch scholarships in 10 Chinese universities from 1995.

While encouraging outstanding students with the financial rewards, the company hopes it will find excellent employees from the university graduates, according to a human resources officer with the company.

Meanwhile, the company has raised its brand acknowledgement among the students and become their top choices to work with after graduation, the officer said.

(Shanghai Daily March 10, 2004)