Higher_Education_in_China_AP97

Higher_Education_in_China

Higher Education in China

in the light of massification

and demographic change

Lessons to be learned for Germany

Uwe Brandenburg

Jiani Zhu

Higher_Education_in_China

CHE Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung gGmbH

Verler Str. 6

D-33332 Gütersloh

Telefon: (05241) 97 61 0

Telefax: (05241) 9761 40

E-Mail: info@che.de

Internet:

ISSN 1862-7188

ISBN 978-3-939589-60-0

Higher_Education_in_China

Arbeitspapier Nr. 97

Oktober 2007 Higher Education in China in the light of massification and demographic change Uwe Brandenburg Jiani Zhu

Lessons to be learned for Germany

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Contents

Abbreviations..............................................................................................................2

Abstract......................................................................................................................3

Preliminary remarks....................................................................................................4

1. Overview of the educational system in China today............................................5

1.1.1. Basic education............................................................................................6

1.1.2. Adult education............................................................................................7

2. Higher Education in China.................................................................................10

2.1. Historical overview.........................................................................................10

2.1.1. Initial phase: until 1949...............................................................................10

2.1.2. Transitional phase: 1949-1976...................................................................13

2.1.3. Booming phase: 1976 until today...............................................................16

2.2. Higher education today..................................................................................18

2.2.1. Tuition fees.................................................................................................19

2.2.2. Development of student numbers...............................................................20

2.2.3. Types of institutions and supervision..........................................................22

2.2.4. Students and institutions: distribution effects.............................................25

2.2.5. International aspects: study abroad and internationalisation at home........27

2.2.5.1. Study abroad..........................................................................................27

2.2.5.2. Internationalisation at home....................................................................31

3. Reforms and trends...........................................................................................33

3.1. General reforms.............................................................................................33

3.2. Rankings and the Chinese higher education policy.......................................36

3.3. Project 211.....................................................................................................37

3.4. Project 985.....................................................................................................39

4. Challenges........................................................................................................41

4.1. Core and fringe..............................................................................................41

4.2. Unemployment...............................................................................................42

4.3. Quality............................................................................................................44

4.4. Demographic change.....................................................................................45

5. Lessons learned?!.............................................................................................47

5.1. Private education and foreign investments....................................................47

5.2. Student Recruitment......................................................................................48

5.3. Quality............................................................................................................48

5.4. Excellence.....................................................................................................48

5.5. Demography..................................................................................................49

6. Conclusion.........................................................................................................50

7. Annex................................................................................................................51

7.1. Netbig Ranking 2006-07................................................................................51

7.2. Guangdong Institute of Management Science (GIMS) Ranking 2006...........52

8. Sources.............................................................................................................53

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Abbreviations

ACA Academic Cooperation Association

CASS Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

(In Chinese: 中国社会科学院)

CERNET

(In

CHE

DAAD

GDP Gross

HE Higher

HEI

HRK

MoE

(In

NCEE

QAA

UNESCO

China Education and Research Network Chinese: 中国教育和科研计算机网) Centre for Higher Education Development (In German: Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung) German Academic Exchange Service (In German: Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) Domestic Product Education Higher Education Institution German Rectors' Conference (In German: Hochschulrektorenkonferenz) Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China Chinese: 中华人民共和国教育部) National College Entrance Examination (In Chinese: 高考) Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation

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Abstract

This paper begins with a general overview of the educational system in China, casting some spotlights on basic education and adult learning, given that these two aspects of education are of considerable relevance when it comes to higher education, e.g. concerning illiteracy and education in rural areas.

Next, the historical development of higher education in China is described, starting with the very first institutions of higher learning, the private academies or shuyuan. This development continues through the period of Soviet-oriented education, after the Second World War, to the phase of renewed invigoration until today.

The paper then outlines the current system, the types of institutions and the spread of students over the system, and analyses some problems and challenges which have to be faced.

In the following step, the different policies of the Chinese government to cope with the main challenges are briefly analysed. Project 211 and Project 985 as well as the Action Plans for Invigorating Education are touched upon. In addition, the first ideas on how China can cope with the future demographic changes are introduced.

In a final step, the paper defines those areas in which lessons from the Chinese experience can be learned for Germany and where mutual activities seem to be advisable. Demographic change, the ideas of excellence and quality in education, foreign investment possibilities, and student recruitment are the main aspects considered.

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Preliminary remarks1

The discussion about the impact of the demographic change in Germany on the higher education system is multi-faceted. Besides the German-specific aspects, the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE) published twice on the international relevance of this change (AP93: Brandenburg et al. 2007, AP86: Witte 2007). In AP93, the centre addressed the issues of funding and enrolment requirements in 22 European and 4 non-European countries. AP86, on the other side, focused upon possible funding systems for study abroad concerning both individual full-time study abroad and limited study abroad periods as part of a degree programme at a German university. The paper showed how the Norwegian model (Lånekassen) operates and what lessons might be learned from the Dutch approach. Obviously, the main question to be answered was how Germany can cope with the expected enormous influx of new students into the higher education system during the next decade. After investigating various European models as described above, the CHE was also interested in analysing a non-European situation in order to find out what we might learn – what to do or not to do – from the perspective of different mind sets and approaches.

In order to do so, the researchers decided to have a closer look into a country with a very different history, mentality and subsequently, educational policy. This paper therefore tries to link the problem of possible dramatic increases in student numbers in Germany and the possible political reactions and reverberations of this demographic change with the situation of a country which is also trying to find ways to increase university places for tertiary level students. In addition, China is also going to face possibly the most serious ageing problem in the world. Estimates say that China might have a percentage of 31% of the population older than 60 by 2050, whereas Germany is expected to have 35% older than 60 by 2050 (United Nations 2004, pp. 53-54). Therefore, it is of interest to have a more substantial in-depth look into the policy that China has implemented to deal with the growing number of students as well as search for possible policies envisioned for the period of ageing. The authors would like to express their extreme gratefulness to Prof. Dr. Jürgen Henze who, as one of the leading experts world-wide on Chinese Higher Education, agreed to support the authors with advice and suggestions, particularly on the interpretation of data. In addition, they want to thank Diane Carr for her extensive support as a native speaker and critical reader. 1

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This research investigation requires the analysis of different aspects of Chinese education in general and higher education in particular, including Project 211 and Project 985 and their implications for the Chinese higher education system. Furthermore, the paper aims at providing some insights into the strategies of the Chinese government for dealing with the upcoming demographic challenge. Moreover, after the student peak, Germany in general will face a tremendous decrease in student numbers. In some Länder2 such as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, this decrease has started yet. Therefore, China and the development of the Chinese student population can maybe also provide some solutions for some HEIs through student recruitment or offshore activities. This paper will, however, not develop and scrutinise concrete recruitment strategies as this will be dealt with in a subsequent research including a variety of countries.

1. Overview of the educational system in China today

Today the educational system in China in general and the higher education system in particular present themselves as follows3:

Education in China is differentiated in three stages which reflect the typical stages in other educational systems around the world. The stage of basic education is followed by the stage of higher education. Afterwards, the stage of adult education is implemented. The “Länder” are the Federal States of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Some additional information on the education system in China is provided by the government on its website: . 32

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Graph based on data from the report of the Finnish National Board of Education 2007, p.6

1.1.1. Basic education

Basic education is divided into compulsory education and senior secondary education with an optional pre-school system prior to elementary school education (in Chinese小学/小學or xiǎo xué) (Finnish National Board of Education 2007 p.6). Compulsory education starts at the age of seven and lasts for nine years; these nine years constitute six years in elementary school and three years in junior middle school (in Chinese 初中/初中 or chūzhōng). It is legally based on the “Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China” (in Chinese 义务教育法/義務教育法 or yìwù jiàoyùfǎ), which was promulgated in 1986 and revised in 2006 (CERNET 2007f). Senior secondary education is accessible through entrance examinations generally at the age of 16. The results of the exams decide in which track of senior secondary education the pupil might be steered. Students later have to pass the “Standard Examination for Senior Middle School Graduates” (in Chinese会考/會考 or huìkǎo). In the general senior secondary school (in Chinese高中/高中or gāozhōng)

students are educated for three years and also prepared for the National College

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Entrance Examination (NCEE) or gaokao (China Today 2007) and then admitted to study at a higher education institution if the results fit the requirements of the institutions.

On the other hand, those students whose abilities are rather practical or who want to enter the labour market at an earlier stage are educated in specialised – sometimes translated as “technical”- schools (in Chinese 技校/技校 or jìxiào) with three- to four-year programmes as well as vocational – sometimes called “professional”- schools (in Chinese 职校/職校or zhíxiào) with three-year programmes. Theoretically, graduates from specialised secondary schools can take the national university entrance examination followed by studies at a vocational university, but as the Finnish National Board of Education in their report on Chinese higher education stated, “this is extremely rare in practice” (Finnish National Board of Education 2007 p.6).

1.1.2. Adult education

Whereas basic and the latter described higher education options are consecutive systems, adult education in China is a conglomerate of different offerings spread over the entire education system. It ranges from workers’ and peasants’ elementary schools and literacy classes (in Chinese 扫盲班/掃盲班 or sǎomángbān), established to overcome the still considerable illiteracy issues in rural parts of China4, through radio and TV based specialised secondary schools in the segment of distance education, specialised secondary schools for workers, cadres and peasants (in Chinese 职工、干部、农民中等学校/職工、幹部 、農民中等學校 or zhígōng, gànbù, nóngmín zhōngděngxuéxiào), on-the-job teacher training schools (in Chinese 在职教师进修学校/在職教師進修學校 or zàizhí jiàoshīxiūxuéxiào), correspondence schools and educational colleges (in Chinese 函授学校/函授學校 or hánshòu xuéxiào). In the higher education segment, adult education comprises workers/cadres/peasants The illiteracy rates in the cities compared to the countryside are 4.29% and 8.26% respectively (National Population and Family Planning commission of China 2007). 4

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colleges as well as radio/TV universities and correspondence or educational colleges. However, although located in the higher education segment, these institutions are usually restricted to two- or three-year short-cycle programmes, whereas regular undergraduate programmes are seldom found (Education China 2007). Table 1: Illiterate population aged 15 and over by region (2005)

Population aged 15 and overIlliterate population % to total aged 15 and over

National Total 13,664,7371,508,70611.04 Beijing 182,6507,1523.92 Tianjin 120,5725,7934.80 Hebei 746,57453,6387.18 Shanxi 349,52419,4725.57 Inner Mongolia 262,00029,47611.25 Liaoning 479,16722,8394.77 Jilin 307,42817,9945.85 Heilongjiang 430,77126,6336.18 Shanghai 214,16911,2135.24 Jiangsu 835,73283,70210.02 Zhejiang 545,25565,17211.95 Anhui 623,028119,87519.24 Fujian 381,43549,27912.92 Jiangxi 427,44645,03810.54 Shandong 1,029,220127,44912.38 Henan 979,23595,8919.79 Hubei 613,08874,11412.09 Hunan 680,67058,3778.58 Guangdong 956,60457,3706.00 Guangxi 470,37140,6258.64 Hainan 83,6378,1629.76 Chongqing 293,81634,24411.65 Sichuan 849,493141,10416.61 Guizhou 353,81675,75021.41 Yunnan 446,98789,71320.07 Tibet 26,65611,95344.84 Shaanxi 396,10840,90310.33 Gansu 263,00054,78020.83 Qinghai 54,59513,14324.07 Ningxia 58,45410,93518.71 Xinjiang 203,23516,9198.32

Source: China Statistical Yearbook 2006, Chapter 4-13

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In the above graph based on the statistics from table 1, the black area shows where the rates of illiteracy within provinces exceed the national average of 11.04%. Provinces such as Tibet (44.84%), Qinghai (24.07%) and Guizhou (21.41%), which are located in the West or Southwest of China, have the highest illiteracy rate while the provinces in the Northeast or Eastern part of China such as Beijing (3.92%), Liaoning (4.77%), Tianjin (4.8%) and Shanghai (5.24%) have relatively low figures. Thus, besides the questions of higher education and of educating the managers and leaders for tomorrow, of utmost importance in regions such as Beijing or Shanghai, one of the main tasks of Chinese education is still to solve the problem of illiteracy. This is of particular concern in preparing the ground for the issues at stake when the one-child policy will show its demographic effects and educated people will be even more needed. China is aware of this problem. As Dr. Liu5 from the Chinese Embassy in Germany stated, one of the major initiatives helping to overcome the illiteracy problem in rural areas was the recent abolishment of school fees, allowing children from low-income peasant families to go to school and receive education. This seems

to be one of the most urgent and important tasks in China today.

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2. Higher Education in China

2.1. Historical overview

2.1.1. Initial phase: until 1949

The history of modern higher education of a broader scope in China is a rather young history compared with the history of education in Europe and the Middle East. Nevertheless, China did establish some private academies (in Chinese书院/書院or shūyuàn) which may have been a close parallel to the medieval universities of Europe (Hayhoe 1989). These institutions functioned in their initial phase as pure libraries that later became research institutes and then academies. These private academies took over educational tasks especially in the late Tang and Five Dynasties periods when the government could not afford enough funds for education at the local level (Chinaknowledge 2007). Among these academies, the “four most prestigious academies” (in Chinese 四大书院 or sìdàshūyuàn) were outstanding. These academies, the Yuelu Academy (founded in 976), the Bailudong Academy (founded in 940), the Suiyang Academy (founded in 1009) and the SongYang Academy (founded in 484) (Statistical Information Hunan 2007) can be regarded as institutions of higher learning (Bookrags 2007). As Hayhoe states:

“Traditional Chinese higher institutions can be traced back as early

as the Eastern Zhou dynasty (771-221 B.C.). By the Tang Dynasty

(618-907 A.D.) there was a whole range of higher institutions,

headed by the Guo zixue (School for the sons of the Emperor) and

the Tai xue - (often translated university) which took major classical

texts of the Confucian school as their curricular content. There were

also professional schools for law, medicine, mathematics, literature,

calligraphy, and Daoist studies. In the later Song Dynasty (960-1279

A.D), the Confucian classics were reordered to form a knowledge

system that had to be mastered by all aspiring to become scholar-

officials in the imperial civil service.” (Hayhoe 1989, p.54)

Although the education of adolescents from noble aristocratic families dates back to as early as the 16th century B.C., later Shang Dynasty (1523-1027 B.C.) 5 All reference made to Dr. Liu is based on an interview made on July 26th, 2007 and additional

information provided on August 1st, 2007.

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(Surowski 2000), the education of ordinary citizens in general and higher education of different classes in particular is a very recent development. It took three centuries, until the very first steps in the direction of mass higher education were taken in the very last years of the 19th century. The failure in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 (in Chinese 中日甲午战争/中日甲午戰爭) was a fatal blow to the government of Qing Dynasty as it resulted in the transfer of regional dominance in Asia from China to Japan. More people came to realise how successful modernisation had been in Japan and how important education and technology is for strengthening a country. In an official document submitted to Qing Emperor, Sheng Xuanhuan, an intendant of Tianjin Customs and entrepreneur, emphasised “to build a strong dynasty, we should give priority to the cultivation of talents; while to cultivate talents, we must first facilitate our education” (in Chinese “自强首在储才，储才必先兴学”) and “all the talents in western countries benefit from the university education” (in Chinese “西国人材之盛皆出于学堂”) (Eastday 2007)6. With his advocate, Emperor Guangxu (1871-1908) approved the idea of establishing a new style institution of higher learning. Peiyang University in Tianjin (now Tianjin University) was established on October 2nd, 1895 and Sheng Xuanhuai was chosen as the superintendent of the university (Tjianjin University 2007). Peiyang University was the first institution of higher learning in modern China and plays an important role in the modern Chinese education system.

This appears to have been a rather productive phase concerning the establishment of universities. In 1886, Nan Yang Public School was founded, which is the predecessor to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, followed by the founding of the Zhejiang University in 1897 and the Peking University in 1898. Hayhoe quotes from Chinese Education History that “by June of 1931 there were 39 universities, 13 national, 12 provincial and 14 private, 17 colleges, 2 national, 6 provincial and 9 private, 23 professional schools, 3 national, 15 provincial and 5 private” (Hayhoe 1989, p.65) and “by 1947, 207 higher institutions had been established, including 55 comprehensive universities” (ibidem, p.66). Sheng Xuanhuai, the first university president in China. The text here is based on the translation of the original Chinese text. 6

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These years comprise three very different political settings in China, the Empire (since 221 BC until 1912), the very short period of the Republic of China (1912-1949 with Taiwan formally remaining the Republic of China) and since 1949, the communist People’s Republic of China. In the time of the empire as well as during the republican era7, China based its newly founded higher education system on the Western European model (Duan 2003). How much this decision was influenced by the colonial powers themselves, whether it constituted a preference for one colonial approach over another, or whether it was in no way related to the political agenda will not be analysed in this paper. However, the choice for an educational model is important to acknowledge, considering that it is often assumed that the Chinese system of higher education formed a rather solid and homogeneous block reflecting the communist ideology (Lang 2004).

The initial time when Western university models took root in China might be traced back to the missionary movement, although the introduction of Western university models was not on the forefront of the missionaries’ religious efforts. Catholics tended to develop parochial education while most Protestant missionaries focused on evangelisation. In order to teach new converts basic religious and liturgical knowledge, necessary education had been developed. Meanwhile, some groups including French Jesuit missionaries, American Protestants with the cooperation of British and Canadian colleagues, and German industrialists created institutions with economic and cultural purpose (Hayhoe 1989, p.57ff).

By 1949, 205 universities (China Statistical Yearbook 1985) had been founded. Considering that the population of China comprised approximately 580.5 million people in 1952 (UN Statistics Division 2007), one might rightly assume that the system was still far from serving the entire population of China. In addition, the vast majority of the gross domestic product of China in those days was produced by peasants and farmers with little or no education whatsoever. During this time China had to manoeuvre between Asian, European and other colonial powers. This included for example the Portuguese in Macao. During the “Boxer War” (in Chinese 义和团起义/義和團起義 or Yìhétuán qǐyì, i.e. the “righteously joined militia”) the counterparts were Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the USA. 7

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According to the somewhat self-glorifying history of the communist party, the “long march” of the communist forces8 was the beginning of a societal change. However, close to reality this self-estimation might come, Mao Zedong did indeed have ample chance to realise the day-to-day situation of rural China throughout the march and it can be fairly assumed that this experience thoroughly influenced his attitude towards mass education. “Mao Zedong not only produced a prompt definition of a policy to establish and develop mass education, but he also inspected the schools himself, made friends with educators and read and approved important documents on education” (Zhuo 1994, p.2). With Mao, we therefore entered the second phase of educational policy in China.

2.1.2. Transitional phase: 1949-1976

From this point in time onwards, when we talk about China in general we refer to mainland China. One should not forget that in Taiwan the higher education system established in republican times still prevailed. Also, in the former British Crown Colony of Hong Kong, a British style higher education system had been implemented with the foundation of Hong Kong University in 1910 by Sir Frederick Lugard, the British Governor of Hong Kong. Both systems were to play some role in the years following Hong Kong’s return to China on July 1st, 1997.

The transitional phase 1949-1976 is characterised by two antagonistic approaches to higher education policy that were pursued in China. On the one hand, between 1949 and 1953 the number of comprehensive universities was reduced from 49 to a mere 13, accompanied by a severe reduction of university places in the fields of humanities and social sciences which decreased dramatically from 33.1 to 14.9% (Ouyang 2004, p.141). This reflected the keen interest of the Chinese government to achieve two goals for the higher education system: “First, it should have the right political nature; it should belong to the new government led by the Chinese Communist Party. Second, it should directly serve the needs of the rapid economic development taking place in the new country” (Ouyang 2004, p.141). The first national conference held in 1950 laid down the aims of higher education: 8 In effect, the long march (长征 / 長征, Chángzhēng) was a tactical escape of communist forces from

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“to educate workers for national construction who will have a high

cultural level, will possess modern scientific and technical

accomplishments and will serve wholeheartedly the people by means

of the teaching method known as ‘the unity of theory and practice’ ”.

(Hayhoe 1989, p.68)

It is anything but surprising that in the 1950s, the dominant model for universities in China was that of the Soviet Union. Since the new Chinese government lacked experience regarding the new schooling model, it much depended on the assistance from the Soviet Union. By that time, the Soviet Union had already achieved over 30 years of communist construction and development (Gu 2004). During the 1950s, 861 educational experts from the Soviet Union were sent to participate in the reform and establishment of Chinese higher education in order to facilitate teaching and higher education reform in the new Chinese universities (Chen 2003).

In 1952, a countrywide adjustment of colleges and of university departments took place which followed the Soviet concept of remodelling education, leading to the restructuring of the higher education institution itself (Mohrman 2003). In 1952, the Ministry of Education (MoE) of China announced the principles and schemes of the adjustment of universities and colleges, emphasising the outline of “giving priority to the cultivating of cadre in industry, developing the specialised colleges, and adjusting and strengthening the comprehensive universities” (in Chinese 以培养工业建设人才和师资为重点，发展专门学院，整顿和加强综合性大学”).

Zhejiang University may serve as a typical example. Being a comprehensive university before the adjustment, it was then divided into several mono-disciplinary colleges and some of its disciplines were merged into other universities (Zhejiang University 2007). Although it is true that the adjustment in 1952 facilitated the construction of industry and the development of science and technology, producing a large amount of specialised talents for the economic development of the 1950s (Yang 2007), the change nevertheless resulted in various problems. The two most striking ones were: First, the number of comprehensive universities and departments of humanities and of the social sciences was dramatically decreased, leaving less options for interdisciplinary experiences and cross-disciplinary research; second, an encircling by Chiang Kai-Schek in 1934/35. Approximately 90.000 soldiers attempted to travel

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since universities were divided and specialised into different and very constricted fields, the graduates tended to become more narrow-minded (Chen 2003).

In 1957 and 1966, two main changes took place. On the one hand, the administration was seriously decentralised with the abolition of the Ministry of Higher Education. On the other hand, the number of higher education institutions increased dramatically (Hayhoe 1989). This was related to a strong interest in pushing China into the world economies of the days – and thereby proving the strength of communism. The most prominent – and disastrous – example of this general policy was the ‘the great leap forward in industry and elsewhere’ (in Chinese 大跃进/大躍進, dàyuèjìn) starting in 1958 and ending in 1962. Although it is well-known that this initiative ended in one of the largest famines in world history, in higher education at least a quantitative change was made.

Between 1957 and 1960, the number of higher institutions grew from 229 to 1,289 (Hayhoe 1989, p.72). This huge increase seemed to have been considered rather exaggerated even by the Chinese government and subsequently the number of HEIs was reduced again to 610 in 1962, and continued to decrease to 434 in 1965 (China Statistical Yearbook 1996). However, the ratio between university students and inhabitants grew from 6.8 for every 10,000 in 1957 to 9.3 for every 10,000 in 1965 (China Statistical Yearbook 1999).

However, it is indeed very interesting to note that in the late 50s up until the mid-60s, China established a mixed Confucian-Western style higher education (Finnish National Board of Education 2007). The reasons for this change seem to be rather political than scientific. China was on rather less than friendly terms with Russia by the end of the 1950s and, therefore, it might not have seemed politically appropriate to follow an educational model of a state which was not well-received by the Chinese government. Thus, the Western-style model prevailed again, if only for a short time. As Hayhoe puts it bluntly: “In conscious reaction to the narrow fragmentation and exclusivist orientation towards expertise of Soviet patterns, Mao directed in 1957 that ’our educational policy must enable everyone to develop morally, intellectually about 12.000 kilometres with only 10% surviving the endeavour.

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and physically and become a worker with socialist consciousness and culture’. Furthermore, ’education must serve proletarian politics and be combined with productive labor.’ '' (Hayhoe 1989, p.72).

The second blossoming of Western-style higher education was abruptly stopped in 1966. The Cultural Revolution led to the eradication of all formal education and a decade of deterioration set in, thus leaving an entire generation vastly uneducated. This was a disaster for the Chinese educational system and repercussions were felt for a considerable amount of time. Only in 1977, the National College Entrance Examination was resumed and universities opened again.

2.1.3. Booming phase: 1976 until today

Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) took the position of General Secretary of the Central Committee in 1956 and in this capacity also tended to focus on education.9 Over the years, he started to re-focus the educational policy of the P.R. China and changed the university entrance system from a formerly recommendation-based approach to an examination-led process.

In 1977, the National College Entrance Exam (NCEE), or gaokao, was restored (Mullins 2005). That year, about 5.7 million candidates took the exams and about 270,000 were admitted to higher education, i.e. a mere 4.7% (China Education Newspaper 2007). Considering that China comprised of approximately 962.5 million inhabitants in 1978 (China Statistical Yearbook 2006), and assuming that the numbers increased only slightly during this one year – data for 1977 was not available – this translates into 0.03 % of the population being educated in institutions of higher education.

The academic degree system was reintroduced, with bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, and a post-doctoral research system was set up. As Ouyang calls it, “a relatively rational higher education system was set up with different subjects, different aspects and different levels” (Ouyang 2004, p.143). This system included a rather diverse system of 270 different subjects. The development of diverse subjects 9 More details may be found at: and

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was the consequent answer to the developments in international research and teaching which were felt to be not adequately mirrored by the existing academic fields and categories and therefore an adjustment was felt to be needed in order to be able to produce education on an up-to-date level (Yuan 2000).

The reasons for these changes are again to be found in the political agenda of China at that time. Deng Xiaoping followed a policy of economic rationalism and therefore, higher education was regarded as an important corner stone in developing China into a global economic power. In addition, the practice of social reform and the open door policy supported the development of education in general and education reform in particular. By creating a socialist economic construction, the state also created a considerable need for large numbers of higher-quality blue and white collar workers (Ouyang 2004, p. 144). As a result, by 1998, 1,022 universities and colleges were educating 3,408,760 students (China Statistical Yearbook 1999).10

In this context, it should be mentioned that in the last decade many mergers of HEIs have taken place, sometimes reversing the above-mentioned policy of the 1950s and 1960s. Between 1996 and 2000, these mergers led to a reduction among the major colleges and universities from 387 to 212 (Melvin 2006). As Cai points out, most of these mergers were top-down decisions in that the state decided which institutions had to merge. A remarkable exception to this rule is the merger of the Peking University and the Beijing Medical University in 2000 which was preceded by a five-year period of increased cooperation (Cai 2006). In addition, Chinese higher education started to seriously internationalise, not the least based on the Ninth 5-Year Plan. More or less with the return of Hong Kong in 1997, a strong movement of cooperation between Chinese universities and Western universities began. Today, China has established educational relationships with countries across Europe, Central, North and South America, Oceania, Africa and the rest of Asia. Agreements on mutual recognition of academic degrees have been signed between China and, e.g., Germany, the UK, France and New Zealand. In the meanwhile, international educational cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding on To find the correct data is somewhat difficult. Bie talks about 3.8 million in 1990 and 15 million in 2002 (Bie 2007). However, the authors decided to focus on the official Chinese statistics as the point of reference. 10

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educational cooperation have been signed with, e.g., the USA, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand (MoE 2007).

Table 2: Countries which signed agreements on mutual recognition of academic degrees with China Year Country Year Country

1988 Sri Lanka 1998 Belarus

1990 Bulgaria 1998 Ukraine

1991 Algeria 1998 Mongolia

1991 Peru 2000 Belarus

1992 Mauritius 2002 Kyrgyzistan

1993 Uzbekistan 2002 Germany

1994 Cameroon 2003 United Kingdom

2003 1995 Russia 2003 Australia

1997 Egypt 2003 New Zealand

1997 Hungary

Source: MoE (in Chinese) 2007

Peking University (in Chinese 北京大学/北京大學), as one of the top Chinese universities, for example, has established intercollegiate cooperative relations with more than 200 universities and research institutions in 49 countries and regions in the world (Peking University 2007).

2.2. Higher education today

The higher education segment of the Chinese education system carries aspects both of the US and the UK systems with a stronger affiliation to the US system. Two- and three-year colleges which are also referred to as short-cycle colleges (in Chinese 专科院校 / 專科院校 or zhuānkēyuànxiào), typically awarding associate degrees (in Chinese 大专文凭 / 大專文憑 or dàzhuānwénping), exist next to typical four-year colleges and universities which offer academic as well as vocational courses leading to bachelor degrees (in Chinese 本科文凭 / 本科文凭 or běnkē wénping) or higher. Master’s degrees and PhDs are offered by universities and research institutions which are accredited by the State Council (MoE 2005). It is to be remarked that China did opt for both three- and four-year programmes of which the latter is only offered at four-year colleges and universities, while the first can often be studied at any kind of higher education institution. In contrast to four-year programmes, the

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