Shanghai woos foreign educated natives

Beijing, April 26 (IANS) Shanghai natives returning to their home town for work, after having completed their overseas education, are being offered privileges in the city's schools for their children holding foreign passports.

The new offers intend to woo such people into settling down in Shanghai.

According to the local government, the move has come under a new policy passed by Shanghai's human resource bureau and is among a package of initiatives to boost employment attraction for senior professionals with overseas educational backgrounds.

Under the policy, the eligible children will be entitled to the same rights as their Shanghai native peers in public schooling, including kindergarten, elementary and middle schools, the Shanghai Daily reported.

It means much lower educational costs for parents, compared to having their children admitted as foreign students in the public schools or sending them to international schools.

These children will also be treated same as Shanghai local residents for coverage by basic medical insurance.

With Shanghai natives increasingly showing interest to return along with overseas born and brought up children, the new policy has been passed to turn the city more inviting for them to settle down here.

"This is a newly-emerged demand seen in the local market," said an official, surnamed Huang, with the city's human resource bureau.

The policy covers only children holding foreign passports with a parent who has a Shanghai residency permit and has returned after studying abroad.

The qualified children who have lived overseas for five or more years and have spent less than three years in a "Mandarin language environment" in China can also enjoy lowered thresholds if they choose to sit for entrance exams to enter local senior high schools.