Humboldt fellowships highlight quality of China's research talents

Innovation is one of China's hottest catchwords nowadays. For that you need talent. China has millions of college graduates every year. What about their quality? Statistics of sponsorships granted by Germany's Alexander von Humboldt Foundation might be a gauge.

According to latest figures disclosed recently by the foundation at a gathering of ethnic Chinese professors of German universities in Muenster, Germany, there are 5,313 Humboldt alumni in Asia in 2014, among them 1,433 were Chinese, second only to Japan.

Steffen Mehlich, who is in charge of sponsorship and network at the renowned foundation, said it is quite amazing for China to have so many Humboldt alumni considering the fact that the Humboldt Foundation only started to grant research fellowships to China in 1979. China was awarded only six fellowships at the start.

The Humboldt Foundation, founded in 1953, offers flexible sponsorship programs for researchers at all stages of their careers. The research fellowships and awards enable outstanding scientists and scholars from abroad to complete long-term research stays in Germany. There are no quotas for specific countries or subjects. Only personal academic achievement counts.

From 2010 to 2014, 2,805 new foreign research fellows were added into the support list of the foundation, 27 percent were from Asia and every seventh applicant comes from China.

Since 1979, a total of 2,042 Chinese scientists and scholars have received financial support from the Humboldt Foundation, ranking third only after the United States and Japan.

The success rate of Chinese applications was 33.7 percent in 2014, much higher than the world average of 29.2 percent, Mehlich said. Endit