Shanghai holds a career fair to attract overseas Chinese students from top British, American and Canadian universities on Aug 15. [Photo/sohu.com]

A career fair to attract overseas Chinese students from top British, American and Canadian universities was held in Shanghai on Aug 15.

A total of 31 state-owned enterprises and 30 multinationals, including the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, SAIC Motor, Shanghai Electric Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, BASF and Bloomberg were present at the fair, offering job positions.

More than 700 overseas Chinese students from top universities such as the University of Cambridge, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London School of Economics and Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and the University of Toronto attended the event.

The majors of the students who attended included accounting, finance, mechanical engineering, management, electronic and electrical engineering, mathematics, statistics, economics, materials science, information system and innovation, chemical engineering, media, law, and literature, amongst others.

The career fair is an annual event that started in 2009. It was established as a move to serve Shanghai's goal of attracting high-caliber professionals to settle in the city. To date, a total of 4,700 overseas Chinese students have attended.

In order to attract and retain overseas professionals, the city have launched  preferential policies in aspects of daily life, such as regarding Hukou (household registration).

More than 150,000 overseas Chinese students have come to work or set up businesses in Shanghai. Over 5,000 start-up companies have been founded, with total registered capital exceeding $780 million.

In the first half of this year, the city granted Hukou to 6,516 returned overseas Chinese students, up by 69.9 percent year on year.

An overseas Chinese student talks with a recruiter of SAIC Motor at a career fair in Shanghai on Aug 15. [Photo/sohu.com]

Overseas Chinese students talk with recruiters from state-owned enterprises and multinationals at a career fair in Shanghai on Aug 15. [Photo/sohu.com]