Top students to graduate from science program

A program that aims to nurture top talent in science majors will see its first batch of 500 graduates this year, and 95 percent of them have already gained admission to prestigious universities both at home and abroad, the Ministry of Education said at a news conference on Feb 24.

The program was jointly launched in 2009 by ministries that included education and finance to train brilliant college students to be talented, academic leaders and outstanding scientists in math, physics, chemistry, computer science and biology.

The program was implemented in 19 Chinese universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Central China University of Science and Technology. Since it was launched, 4,500 students have been recruited.

In these universities, the best teachers in each of the five fields were gathered to instruct the students, and the best teaching resources, such as some State key laboratories, were made available to the students.

In 2013, more than 350 experts from 150 prestigious universities around the world gave lectures or held seminars for the students.

The students benefited from these resources and made impressive progress, with some attending international academic forums, and others publishing academic papers in world-class academic journals.

Zhang Jie, president of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said he hopes the program's graduates can be in the top 5 percent in the prestigious universities that they will attend.

"I also hope that some of them can become teachers at first-class universities or research institutes in 10 years, and some can grow into international academic masters in 20 years," he said.