The Chinese Science and Technology University based in eastern Anhui Province has set up a research institute in Shanghai to draw the world's top scientists to its advanced research programs.

"It's not going to be very big, but it will engage in advanced scientific research and will offer competitive living and working conditions to draw outstanding scientists from around the globe," said Prof. Zhu Qingshi, president of the Chinese university and an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Scientists would be free to decide whether they would stay for six months, one year or several years, but only the most outstanding professionals could become full professors with the institute, he added. According to Zhu, the institute, which opened on July 30, would have no more than 10 full professors and would recruit 50 to 60 graduate students and 30 to 40 visiting scholars a year.

To start with, the Shanghai institute has set up a research center for advanced mathematical sciences, with a steering committee headed by top scientists including 1999 Nobel Prize winner in physics Gerardus't Hooft and Prof. Gu Chaohao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the near future, the institute will set up centers for financial engineering, information science and life science.