IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON HIGHER

EDUCATION IN CHINA: REFORMS AND TRENDS

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

By Jian-Guo DAI (戴 建国)

Assistant Professor

Department of Civil and Structural Engineering

A seminar in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the

e3 , Hokkaido University, 16-17/09/2010

The Hong Kong Polytechnic Uni. (PolyU)

PolyU campus

• About 2,600 US dollars per month

• 1,300 Us dollars conference support per year

• No tuition fee

• World-class research in many areas

• Hong Kong: a free and dynamic cosmopolitan city in the

heart of Asia converging creativity and entrepreneurship,

offering global connectivity and rich diversity, and being

home to a unique network people who celebrate excellence

and quality living.

PhD Fellowship

Outline

• Educational system in China

• History of higher education in China

• Transformation of China’s higher education as a

consequence of economic globalization

• Talent development strategy 2010-2020

• Some recent news

• Conclusions

• WTO

• Internationalization

• Elite university policy in China

• Incentive mechanisms used for academic performance in

China’s universities

• University ranking

• Talent development strategy 2010-2020

• Some recent news

• Conclusions

WTO

China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in

December 2001. One consequence of the Chinese

ascension to WTO is the increased awareness of

globalization among Chinese higher educators.

“Integration into the world economy has led to a

redefinition of the role of higher education in China”

Education is one of the 12 major service sectors according

to WTO classification (WTO, 2002). In this classification

scheme, educational services are further divided into five

subsectors: primary, secondary, higher, adult and other

education (WTO, 1991).

• Prior to the later 1990s, students and faculty (most of

them selected from leading universities) sent by the

government to go abroad.

• 1981 Chinese government started to permit students to

go abroad at their own expense.

•1990: 7647 students and research scholars sent abroad

(most of them were funded by the central and local

governments).

• 2003: 117300, among which private students occupied

93%

Internationalization: Study abroad

China joined WTO

Internationalization: Study abroad

Internationalization at home

• Accept foreign students

• 1949 ~ 1980s, 50,000 foreign students in total came

to China, most of them were merely short-term

language studies.

• 2003 alone: 77,715 foreign students from 175

countries. Many of them were for program studies.

Less than 4/1000 of the total student population

• Plenty of Chinese-foreign Cooperative education

programs in China

“Elite” university policy in China

The focus of policy is to elevate a small number of Chinese

universities to world class status, and to strengthen them

and make them bigger. Increases in undergraduates of

30% a year common in many universities are a result of this

policy.

In many of China’s major cities there has also been

consolidation of universities, where, say, 4 or 5 small

universities in the city are consolidated into a large single

entity as a way of improving their ranking.

Project 211: from quantity to quality

A plan to place 100 Chinese universities in the premier

league of high education world-wide in the 21st century

(launched in 1995)

• Improvement of the overall institutional capacity

• Development of key disciplinary areas

• Development of the public service system in higher

education

Expenditure for Project 211

Project 985

Project 985 is aimed at developing 10 to 12 so-called

world-class universities which are able to compete with

premier league of high education institutions world-wide,

plus a number of renowned high-level research institutions.

• More than 14 billion RMB were investigated for the first

state (1999 to 2003)

39 institutions are currently supported

Project 985 universities

Incentive mechanisms used for academic

performance in China’s universities

• China is now one of the largest producers of scientific output

as measured by its share in the world total of peer reviewed

scientific articles (ranked fourth, and represented 6.4% of the

world's scientific output.

• Chinese annual scientific outputs almost doubled between

1997 and 2004 although China’s rank (seventh) is not as high

as its share of the world’s scientific outputs in terms of the most

frequently cited papers.

• Rejection rates are increasing sharply. There is also a

tendency for relatively low status educational journals to grow

in number. Debatable but may lead to global impact!

Contract systems in China’s Universities

• A lifelong employment contract before 1999.

• Currently the tenure system has been changed

dramatically, first in Beijing Uni. followed by other elite

universities. The university does not provide tenured positions

to associate professors, lecturers and assistant professors up

to 12 years.

• Individual receiving contracts are often given quotas in

terms of the number of publications in designated journals

which should be attained within a limited period of time.

• Again global incentives for paper submissions and paper

publications are intensified by these developments.

Publish or perish………

Improvement of the talent pool in China (reversal

“brain drain”)

“长江学者奖励计划”

中科院的“百人计划”

1省级 广东省“珠江学者” 福建省“闽江学者” 山东省“泰山学者”陕西省“三秦学者” 湖北省“楚天学者” 四川省“天府学者” 湖南省“芙蓉学者” 上海市“东方学者” 安徽省“皖江学者” 江西省“井冈学者” 河北省“燕赵学者”„„.2地区 广州市“羊城学者计划”深圳市“鹏城学者计划” 宁波市“甬江学者计划”泉州市“桐江学者计划„„„.3大学 浙江大学“求是学者”，大连理工大学“海天学者”河南大学“黄河学者”湖南科技大学“湘江学者”湖南师范大学“潇湘学者计划”天津科技大学“海河学者”合肥工业大学“黄山学者”上海师范大学“申江学者计划”西北工业大学“翱翔学者”石河子大学“绿洲学者”华东师范大学“紫江学者”南阳师范学院“卧龙学者计划”中南大学“升华学者计划”咸宁学院“揽月学者计划”„„„„

"西部之光"计划 “春晖计划” “千人计划”

Stressful university ranking

Stressful university ranking (Engineering)

Stressful university ranking (Asia)

Stressful university ranking (SCI papers)

中新社北京6月6日电 中共中央、国务院近日印发了《国家中长期人才发展规划纲要(2010-2020年)》，并发出通知，要求各地区各部门结合实际认真贯彻执行。

通知指出，《人才规划纲要》是中国第一个中长期人才发展规划，是今后一个时期全国人才工作的指导性文件。制定实施《人才规划纲要》是贯彻落实科学发展观、更好实施人才强国战略的重大举措，是在激烈的国际竞争中赢得主动的战略选择，对于加快经济发展方式转变、实现全面建设小康社会奋斗目标具有重大意义。

通知要求把人才作为经济社会发展的第一资源摆在突出位置，加强对《人才规划纲要》实施的组织领导。要组织广大干部群众特别是各级领导干部认真学习《人才规划纲要》…….

Year 2010~2020 talent development strategies

《国家中长期人才发展规划纲要2010-2020》(以下简称《纲要》)反映了社会发展对创新型人才的强烈需求,将培养造就创新型科技人才作为人才队伍建设的重要任务,提出要“探索并推行创新型教育方式方法,突出培养学生的科学精神、创造性思维和创新能力”,

并且提出了人才培养模式创新的目标和路径,即“建立学校教

育和实践锻炼相结合、国内培养和国际交流相衔接的开放式培养体系”。

Year 2010~2020 talent development strategies

Excellent Engineers Development Strategy

Excellent Engineers Development Strategy

“卓越计划”的实施期限为2010-2020年，参与计划的全日制工科本科生将占当年毕业生总数的10%，全日制工科研究生(论坛)

将占当年毕业生总数的50%。包括清华大学、天津大学、浙江大学、同济大学、四川大学在内的61所高校，成为首批实施“卓越计划”的高校。

据了解，“卓越计划”具有三个特点：一是行业企业深度参与培养过程，二是学校按通用标准和行业标准培养工程人才，三是强化培养学生的工程能力和创新能力。

“卓越计划”实施领域包括传统产业和战略性新兴产业的相关专业。

资料显示：2009年，中国开设工科专业的本科高校共计900

余所，高等工程教育的本科在校生超过370万，研究生约47万；工程学科本科以上在校生数量居世界前列。

京文理科狀元均放棄北大選擇港大

繼北京高考文科狀元丁藝莎明確選擇港大後，理科狀元胡夢縈在最終投奔港大。北京高考文理狀元“花落誰家”一直備受關注，因為兩名狀元考前都不約而同地報考了北大和港大。選擇港大，將獲得45萬港元的最高獎學金。

香港大学抢走七分之一高考状元http://www.sina.com.cn 2010年07月14日 11:05 东方早报

香港大学昨天传出消息，该校已完成录取内地高考学生程序，在9062名报考学生中，该校录取了284人，其中包括10名内地“高考状元”，约占内地状元总数的1/7，上海地区今年共有658人申请港大，最后共录取47人。最受人关注的是被11所美国名校拒录的北京理科高考状元正式确定入读港大。

香港大学表示，10名被港大录取的“高考状元”，分别来自北京、福建、贵州、辽宁和内蒙古等地。

内地“高考状元”是北京、上海、天津、重庆4个直辖市和27个省及自治区高

考成绩排名第一的考生。由于个别省市有学生考取相同分数，“状元”总数每年70人左右。

尖子生外流渐成规模北大清华生源质量将沦为二流?

Concluding remarks

Globalization has resulted and will continue to give a rise to new forms or wider dimensions of internationalization of higher education in China. Challenges and opportunities co-exist.

Globalization won’t give a rise to a single, globally-accepted model for internationalization of higher education although western elite universities have so far played a strong leading role during this champion.

The way for us to survive and win is to produce well-recognized individual flavours, probably, including to establish a well-recognized “world higher education ranking system”.

Thank you for your attention!

Essential references found through the internet for

the preparation of this presentation

Yang, R. Progress and paradoxes: New developments in China’s higher education, University of Western Australia, http://www.education.monash.edu.au/centres/mcrie/docs/bookchapters/yang-2002-cityuhk.pdf

Uwe Brandenburg and Zhu, J., Higher education in China in the light of massification and demographic change: Lessons to be learned for Germany, http://www.che.de/downloads/Higher_Education_in_China_AP97.pdf

Li, Y. et al., The transformation of China’s higher education system and its global implications, The university of Nottingham, China Policy Institute, http://www.chinapolicyinstitute.org/

Peng, X. (2010), The impact of globalization on education reforms in China, Fudan Education Forum, 8(2), 10-15.

Huang, Futao, Internationalization of high education in the era of globalization: a comparative perspective from China and Japan, Hiroshima University (under the peer review of Tertiary Education and Management).

Some basic information

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Student enrollment

Year 2009

• 550,000 schools in total

• Full-time teacher 13,911,000 in total

• Students (formal) in total 264,000,000

• Students (informal) in total 57,000,000

• Enrollment rate for pre-school 99.4%

• Enrollment rate for junior high school 99.4%

• Enrollment rate for senior high school 79.2%

• Enrollment rate for higher education 24.2%

For secondary education and higher education, about half of

students involved in vocational educations

Some basic information

Year 2009 for higher education

• Students enrolled: 2929 million (largest number in the word)

• 2305 regular institutions including 1090 universities and

colleges and 1215 tertiary vocational schools

11,798,000 undergraduate students

9,648,000 vocational school students

•413 national adult institutes:

5,414,000 adult undergraduates and two or three year full

time adult college students, Student-to teacher ratio 17.27:1

• 795 graduate student training units:

1,158,600 master students and 246,300 PhD students

Illiterate populations

aged 15 and over by

region (2005)

Black means: >10%

Some basic information

Outline

• Educational system in China

• History of higher education in China

• Transformation of China’s higher education as a

consequence of economic globalization

• Talent development strategy 2010-2020

• Some recent news

• Conclusions

Historic periods

• Initial period: until1949

205 universities had been founded. (580.5 million population)

Shanghai Jiaotong Uni. 1886; Tianjing University 1895; Zhejiang

University 1897; Peking University 1898; 1990 Hong Kong

University; Tsinghua University 1911

• Transitional period: 1949-1976

1950s Soviet system Comprehensive university to Mono-disciplinary

University

1957-1966 The number of higher education institutions increased

dramatically 229 in 1957 to 1289 in 1960, 6.8 university students

per 10,000 in 1957 to 9.3 per 10,000 in 1965

Historic periods

Later 50s Soviet system to Confucian-Western system stopped in

1966

1966 to 1976 Cultural Revolutions, zero enrollment of students

Booming period: 1976 until today

1977 National college entrance exam (Gaokao) recovered (5.7

million took the exam and 270,000 admitted, 0.03% of 962.5

million population).

Deng Xiao-Ping: Higher education as an engine in developing China

into a global economic power

1998 1022 universities were educating 3,408,760 students

Large increases in the number of students

2007, 10.1 million people applied for exam, 5.67 million would be

able to enter into colleges (about 56%)

2010: More PhD engineers and

scientists in China than in the US

Data on students in higher education

Number of higher education institutions