The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on October 28 presented the first group of CAS scholarships to more than 200 students from 20 universities from all across the country.

Cooperation between the CAS and colleges has a long history, and has produced gratifying results, said Lu Yongxiang, president of the CAS. He said that the CAS will expand such cooperation and try to help cultivate outstanding scientific personnel for the 21st century.

The CAS, China's top research and academic body, will spend 700, 000 yuan (83,400 US dollars) every year to provide scholarships for students at Beijing, Qinghua, Nanjing and Fudan universities, the China University of Science and Technology, and other 15 leading universities.

The academy will provide internships for undergraduate scholarship winners and enroll some of them for graduate studies at the academy. It will also enroll some of the postgraduate scholarship winners to study for doctorate degrees or do postdoctoral research.

Starting in September of this year, the CAS began to send scientists to the 20 universities to give lectures and promote cooperation with them.

The CAS now has 122 institutes which offer masters degrees and 104 institutes which offer doctorate degrees, registering a total of more than 11,000 postgraduate students.

The first group of CAS scholarship winners will be invited to visit research institutes of the CAS in Beijing and attend various forums with postgraduate students and their tutors at these institutes. (Xinhua)