Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province has seen outstanding results in expanding its talent pool so far this year.

Official data shows that it attracted 61,000 college students to work in the city in the first half of this year, up 3.8 percent year-on-year.

A total of 1,923 high profile professionals including 32 academicians from home and abroad and 143 nationally leading professionals applied for the "3315 Series Plan", a recruitment initiative launched by the local government to attract global talent, representing a yearly uptick of 27.9 percent.

The growth is primarily attributed to a string of recruitment events launched by the city.

A total of 339 job fairs were held online and offline over the period, offering over 192,000 employment opportunities. 

The city has also ramped up efforts to attract top-tier professionals from home and abroad by advancing cooperation with intermediate agencies and talent workstations overseas. So far this year, 49 professionals and teams as well as 27 projects have been introduced into the city.

Meanwhile, a number of facilities have been established in Ningbo to provide platforms for talent.

A total of 23 provincial postdoctoral workstations have been established in the city so far this year, ranking first in Zhejiang.

The city is now home to 69 industrial technology research institutes, with over 30,000 talented professionals of various types, among which R&D talent account for over 70 percent.

In April, the local authorities inaugurated a facility in Beilun district which is designed to serve as a public platform where enterprises in the high-end equipment sector can seek technical support from overseas engineers. To date, the center has helped 372 enterprises solve 128 technical problems and develop more than 22 new products.

In the same month, a comprehensive service center tailored to offer one-stop services for talent working in the city was also inaugurated in the city.

Ningbo has seen a sharp increase in its population in recent years. Official data shows that a total of 530,000 people moved to the city in 2018 and 2019, a number equivalent to the permanent resident population of the city's Xiangshan county.