A ceremony, held in the Shanghai Bureau of Astronautics last Saturday (April 8), formally established the training centre to foster the next generation of space specialists-cum-entrepreneurs.

After unveiling the plaque, ten postdocs signed a two-year contract to become the first members of the centre. The ten trainees obtained their doctorate degrees from Harbin Industrial University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Over a hundred dignitaries attended the ceremony representing national and regional interests.

Since its founding in 1961 the Shanghai Bureau of Astronautics (SBA) has made significant contributions to the development and manufacture of satellites, launchers, surface-to-air missiles and space capsules. The Bureau also participated in the production of the Shenzhou manned capsule, which made its unmanned maiden flight last November.

Leaders in SBA recognize that competition with other sectors in technology for skilled labour will become more fierce in the new century.

Director Jin Zhuanglong said, "The key in developing space business in Shanghai to match international levels is to bring together talented workers from all over China and develop expert resources. "The top priority will be attracting and cultivating experts at senior levels, and translating research results into production."

The initiative also signifies Shanghai's leading role to attract outstanding talent to work in the space program, push entrepreneurial research and production, while accelerating reform in state-run enterprises.

According to Lu Xiaochun, Secretary of the Party Committee of SBA, the new centre will expand the recruitment and choice of research areas.

The centre hopes to attract specialists in areas such as spacecraft design, navigation system and control, signal and information processing, custom technologies and navigation facilities, precision instruments and robotics, macromolecular materials, thermal engineering, electromagnetic and laser technologies, optical instrumentation, and telecommunications and electronic systems.

The establishment of the centre comes at a time when the national space program is suffering a serious loss of skilled workers to the private sector, which pays higher salaries than the government.

The enterprise may slow and reverse the tide, and meet the increasing demand of specialists in China's maturing space program.

DRAGON SPACE

Shenzhou on display in a post-flight ceremony in Beijing on Nov. 23. Note the charring on the capsule. On the left edge of the photo is the capsule designer Qi Faren (standing below the microphone boom). Photo: Xinhua News Agency/People's Daily.

China's Space Program Faces Serious Brain Drain
Beijing - March 13, 2000 - The Chinese national space program is suffering loss of skilled space specialists, China News Service reported last week after Li Jianzhong, head of the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) discussed the problem with Premier Zhu Rongji earlier in the week.