1、1c Build World-class Universities Calls for Restructuring Higher EducationAs of 2010, there are over 2,000 uni- versities in China, and the gross enrollment rate reaches 26.5 per-cent. China needs to carefully dealwith a series of problems existing in highereducation before the country reaches targe
2、tsset more than a dozen years ago to build anumber of world-class universities and pro-grams. China Today got an excIusive interviewwith Zhu Yongxin, member of the StandingCommittee of the National Peoples Congress,vice-chairman of the China Association forPromoting Democracy, and vice-president oft
3、he Chinese Society of Education. China Today:Whats the status quoof Chinas higher education? Zhu:China has made great progressoverall with respect to higher education.It has transformed its system from aprovision for the elite to a widely acces-sible process for human resource devel-opment. Generall
4、y speaking, if the grossenrollment rate reaches 15 percent, itindicates that a country has entered anera of popularized education. In 2010,the 2rate reached 26.5 percent in China.In the last 30 years, Chinas highereducation made a big leap forward innumbers and in scientific research; thequality of
5、academic experience andteaching management have also steadilyimproved. But there are indeed sev-eral problems remaining:bureaucracyprevails in universities, and they alladopted similar development strategieswhich cost each of them their uniquecharacteristics. The teaching level alsoneeds to be impro
6、ved. China Today:The college entranceexamination that has been practiced forover 30 years is widely criticized now.What is your appraisal of the studentselection system? Zhu:As a student selection system,the eollege entrance examination has beenplaying an important role in developinghigher education
7、 and advancing excel-lent young people. If the system had notbeen reinstated in 1977, it would be hardto imagine how China could achieve suchrapid economic and social development. But criticism is heard, and I think itis reasonable. First of all, the system, tosome extent, nurtured an examination-or
8、iented education. As a relatively simpleapproach to talent selection, the systemneglects the differences between areas,and overlooks speeial talents as well. Stu-dents expert in specific 3areas find it hardto pass the one-size-for-all examination,because they usually are quite creative.In other word
9、s, the system affected thecountrys innovation capability to someextent. Under this system, the whole educa-tion system, especially the primary andmiddle schools, plaeed too much impor-tance on tests. As the college entranceexamination is the only “open door,“ allstudents had to foens on improving te
10、stskills in order to pass the examination.To a certain degree, the system also em-boldened a pseudo proposition - “Donot lose at the starting line.“ If you wantto be enrolled in a good university, youshould go to a good middle and primary school; if you want to be enrolled in agood primary school, y
11、ou should go to agood kindergarten. Besides these problems, the system isunfavorable for students living in ruraland remote areas where the fundamentaleducation offered is relatively weak. Arelated study has shown that the rate ofstudents at Tsinghua University that arefrom rural areas has decreased
12、 from 30percent before the 1980s to around 10percent. People recognize the justnessof the college entrance examination, buthave doubts about its fairness. So I thinkthe system needs transformation, eventhough it has 4contributed greatly to thecountry. China Today:The independent en-rollment systtem
13、has been introduced ina number of uniuersities. Will it becomemainstream in a short time? Zhu:The independent enrollmentprocess is a “small window“ in the cur-rent system, but has not become anotherdoor. Nicknamed the “second collegeentrance examination,“ it is still an inef-fective approach to sele
14、cting creativetalent, and has a low tolerance to thosepreferring certain specific subjects. QianZhongshu and Wu Han, both great writ-ers in modern China, were recruited byTsinghua University around 1930 fortheir excellent talent in literature, thoughtheir mathematics scores werent worthmentioning. I
15、t is hard to imagine howthese kinds of students would find theirway into college nowadays. The independent enrollment system issupposed to let middle school headmas-ters recommend students with creativeability, but in fact the nominees are usu-ally the best academic performers. Thisis the safest sor
16、t of nomination a head-master can make, but not the goal systemsupposed it was pursuing. China Today:Chinas higher edu-cation started market-oriented reformsin the 1980s. Since then, colleges havecharged tuition fees, and graduates haveto seek jobs themselves. How do 5youevaluate the impact of this
17、reform? Zhu:Marketization is the direction ofdevelopment. As a developing country,China needs to give priority to funda-mental and compulsory education, in-stead of paying for all education. Charg-ing for higher education is a commonpractice around the world, but now wehave two problems. First, whet
18、her the tuition fee is rea-sonable. This problem relates to the costand efficiency of higher education. Wehave so many spare teaching resources,and we didnt keep a strict account of thecost, so tuition fee standards should becarefully reviewed. But we have a goodsolution for helping students from po
19、orfamilies. According to related regula-tions, 15 percent of the tuition feescollected should go to scholarships orstudent grants. The only problem is thispolicy has been under-promoted and notenough students know of it. Second, it is right to let graduatesseek jobs themselves, but the reality ofChi
20、nese society should be considered.Chinese society has always worshippedsocial and family connections, so those with strong backgrounds will enjoy asmoother path than those from disad-vantaged families. A series of policiesshould be designed to help disadvan-taged graduates seek opportunities. Postsi
21、n the civil service and official ranks invillages should 6be open to these studentsfirst. China Today:The private college isa product of the market. Chinas privateuniversities are dwarfed by their foreigncounterparts with regard to teachingquality. Whats the problem? Zhu:I think, first of all, our p
22、ubliceducation system is so strong, leavinglittle room or opportunity for privateschools. Chinas private capital didntenter the field of education, and the pri-vate colleges were originally establishedby public universities. Therefore privatecolleges are miles behind public collegesand will likely n
23、ever be as strong. I once put forward two propositions.First, China in principle should not es-tablish public colleges, leaving the fieldto private ones; second, the countryshould promulgate preferential policiesto encourage private capital to enter thehigher education sector, establish newcolleges
24、or purchase the old ones. Wecan use international experience for ourreference. For example, if private capitalis invested, say RMB 100 million to aproject, the country will allocate another100 million; a tax-exemption would alsobe attractive. I have always held thatChinas higher education will not g
25、o farwithout excellent private colleges. 7Another complicating factor is thatgovernment allocations are not balancedacross public universities. Key universi-ties obtain the biggest share normally,and are therefore ensured full and fastdevelopment. Abroad, the best universi-ties are usually private o
26、nes, while inChina the best are public universities,and that is no different for middle or pri-mary schools, or kindergartens. China Today:In recent years manyexperts and scholars have called for “de-bureaucratization.“ What kind of role doyou think the government should play inthe universities? Zhu
27、:The “de-bureaucratization“should take place on two fronts. The firsttarget is the school environment. Rightnow Chinas universities cant run theirschool themselves, a direct result of thefact, a diploma is technically issued bythe Ministry of Education, and academicdegrees are approved by the minist
28、ry aswell. So many people have leveled thecriticism:“There is only one universityin China, that is, the University of theMinistry of Education.“ Universities arebusy implementing policies issued by thegovernment, and have no right to run aschool independently. Thats why I callfor “liberating headmas
29、ters.“ Second isthat college bureaucracies themselves arevery powerful and have a big say in thenature and 8use of academic resources.So we should wrestle control of academicresources from management personnel.Headmasters, directors, aud manage-ment personnel should support the teaching and research
30、 activities insteadof controlling how they are distributed.Headmasters and deans should nurtureacademic strength instead of obtainingprojects themselves. Currently profes-sors are struggling to fulfill their roles insecuring projects and allocations, and ex-ercise their right to distribute resources
31、.So it is a big problem, as these professorscannot focus on academic studies. China Today:In your opinion,should college education focus on re-search or on application? Zhu:I think colleges should be clas-sified into divisions that are research-oriented, teaching-oriented and tech-nology-oriented. P
32、eking University andTsinghua University definitely belong tothe first category, which focus on innova-tion in key subjects and compete with thebest universities in the world. But somelocal ones, like Soochow University that Iused to work with, should focus on appli-cation, so as to serve local econo
33、mic andsocial development. For technologicaluniversities, training senior techniciansis the primary goal. So I think differentuniversities should define themselves indifferent ways. 9The biggest problem is that, becausethey were measured using the same stan-dards, our universities all followed thesa
34、me pattern. There should have beendifferent options for the development ofuniversities, but now almost all offeredthe same courses and curricula. Second,universities pursued an unlimited expan-sion. Bigger doesnt actually mean better.Universities should make themselvesstand out because of special su
35、bjects andcharacteristics, not the number of ma-jors. Sometimes small is beautiful. China Today:Currently there areseveral university rating systems. Thestandards are different for each. Whatare common standards for world-classuniversities? Zhu:Generally speaking, world-class universities are resear
36、ch-oriented.So the most important standard is theinnovation ability in theoretical or tech-nological pursuits, or the quality of e0n-tributions made to a subject or a theory.The second standard is the students,products of university - their quality,employment rate and social influence.Third is the u
37、niversitys influence on acountrys policy-making and economy.A good university is able to influence acountrys scientific, economic and socialpolicies. 10Comparatively speaking, localuniversities will be measured by theircontribution to local economic growthand social development. Besides that, there
38、are internal stan-dards for a university, including thenumber of professors and whether theyhave a world-class reputation. China Today:According to yourevaluation standards, do we haveworld-class universities? Zhu:I am afraid we dont have so-called top ten universities, but a gener-ous appraisal wou
39、ld put some between20 and 30 in rank; and if not generous,we cant find a Chinese university untilwe look below 50. So I think we still have a long way to go. China Today:Where are the gapsor discrepancies? Zhu:First there is talent, includingteachers and students. Can we attractthe best teachers to
40、our university? If wehave good teachers, we will have goodcourses, and naturally strengthen our in-novation ability. Good students are also important. Nomatter whether its Harvard, Oxford orCambridge, their success is partly owedto having the best students in the world.But in China, we cant even recruit thebest students in our own country. Nowmany good
