The Ministry of Education has selected 33 universities to set up subsidiary computer software institutes, to train high-level software development personnel, according to Zhang Yaoxue, director of the ministry's Department for Higher Education.

The universities chosen will be revealed to the public upon State approval, said Zhang.

The State Council issued a circular last year, urging a speed-up in the development of computer software and integrated circuitry.

China has a good supply of qualified computer programming personnel, but lacks qualified people in the software and system development fields, said Zhang.

These computer software institutes will target postgraduates, and undergraduates from departments other than computer science who wish to shift to computer faculties, or bachelor graduates who want to study for a second bachelor degree in computer science.

Different from other regular colleges and universities, which must follow State recruitment plans, these institutes will be free to decide their recruitment numbers themselves, said Zhang.

"They will be encouraged to jointly set up schools with foreign counterparts and invite foreign teachers to help increase efficiency. They will also be required to link with big foreign computer companies, so as to let students practise what they learn," said Zhang.

Some of these institutes have in fact already started to co-operate with computer software schools of India and the United States, according to Zhang.

He added that these institutes will be expected to graduate nearly 10,000 specialized students each year.

China's computer software industry started in the 1980s. The Ministry of Science and Technology began to establish computer software centres in 1995 to accelerate this industry's development. To date, 19 computer software centres have been set up in Beijing, Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province and in the capitals of other provinces.

Latest statistics indicate that the 19 centres have nurtured 2,100 computer software firms. These firms have produced a total output of 18.6 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) in sales, accounting for 80 per cent of the country's total computer software production.

Xu Guanhua, minister of science and technology, said his ministry will join hands with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation to ensure that domestic software products can compete in global markets.

(China Daily November 19, 2001)