Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
News

China’s New Guidelines Seek to Recharge Outmoded and Ill-Equipped Colleges

May 13, 2010

Last month, China’s State Council, the country’s cabinet, approved a comprehensive package to overhaul the national education system.

The plan, which covers kindergarten through college education, stresses the need for better teaching and research, greater diversity in what is taught at colleges, and closing the quality gap between rich and poor colleges. It also takes aim at how colleges are run, urging experiments with American-style university charters and college boards.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Last month, China’s State Council, the country’s cabinet, approved a comprehensive package to overhaul the national education system.

The plan, which covers kindergarten through college education, stresses the need for better teaching and research, greater diversity in what is taught at colleges, and closing the quality gap between rich and poor colleges. It also takes aim at how colleges are run, urging experiments with American-style university charters and college boards.

The guidelines, which have attracted more than 27,000 comments, according to the education ministry’s Web site, put to paper what many academics and government officials in China have been saying for years: that the country’s education system is outmoded, overstretched, and ill-equipped to train its citizens for the 21st century.

It’s “one of the most important educational-reform documents of the last 30 years,” says Gerard A. Postiglione, a professor of social science at the University of Hong Kong and director of the Wah Ching Centre of Research on Education in China.

He compared the new guidelines to mid-1990s efforts that paved the way for more students to attend higher-education institutions, and to a 2003 law that permits links with foreign institutions.

Sun Xiaobing, director of policy and regulation at the Ministry of Education, said in March that the guidelines will give colleges more autonomy “in teaching, scientific research, enrollment, and international exchanges,” reported the China Daily newspaper. In addition, he said, “Professors will also be given an important position in teaching and academic decisions.”

Rapid Expansion

The guidelines appear to be aimed at fixing several problems that have developed as a result of the rapid expansion of China’s higher-education system. In 1999, 6 percent of college-age Chinese attended universities, but by 2009 that figure had risen to 23 percent, according to Ministry of Education data. Likewise, there were 599 colleges with bachelor’s programs in 2000, compared with 1,079 in 2008.

This growth has brought shoddy teaching, overcrowded classrooms, and academic cheating, many academics and observers say.

“Expansion has been too rapid in the last 10 years,” says Qiang Zha, an assistant professor of education at York University, in Toronto, and a former education official in China’s Anhui province. The result is “a lot of discontent” as families, many of whom are spending their life savings on education expenses, “use the standards of elite education to measure mass education,” he says.

Academics too are increasingly dissatisfied, even at elite universities.

“China has no world-class university, and prestigious universities are based on stacks of funds,” Xu Zhihong, former president of Peking University, has said, according to China Daily.

ADVERTISEMENT

When Qian Xuesen, the father of China’s space program, died at age 98 in October, eulogies recalled how he’d recently told Premier Wen Jiabao that Chinese universities were unable to produce creative geniuses.

That discontent does not mean professors and the central government are at odds; both sides recognize the need for change. China’s former education minister, Zhou Ji, was abruptly dismissed last fall because of widespread dissatisfaction with the education system.

“It’s the right time for people to pay attention to this,” says Mr. Zha. “The national leaders, they realize, and they’ve heard a lot of these things from university leaders; it’s an interactive process.”

Piecemeal and Slow

How quickly—and substantively—these guidelines will be enacted is unclear. China’s higher-education system is both large and complicated. At present, China’s universities are each run by a president and a Chinese Communist Party secretary appointed by the government. At 37 top universities, the Ministry of Education appoints the leaders; for other institutions, provincial authorities appoint the officials. Top-tier college presidents hold government positions equivalent to vice ministers.

ADVERTISEMENT

A plan to stop granting official government ranks to university leaders caused a minor squabble during the normally compliant National People’s Congress, in March.

President Gu Hailiang of Wuhan University supported the change, arguing that the government positions open the way to political careers and have encouraged higher-education leaders “to manage the university like some executive department” with little attention to academic development.

Others disagreed.

“To strip the grade depreciates education,” said President Ji Baocheng of People’s University during the meeting.

ADVERTISEMENT

All involved in the debate agree that if the Communist Party reduces its influence on higher education, the move must be piecemeal and slow.

Premier Wen said during his visit to Peking University that education changes must be “step by step.”

Says Shi Jinghuan, executive vice dean of Tsinghua University’s Institute of Education: “To really identify the healthy relationship between the government and the university needs time.”

The government has given colleges 10 years to make the changes laid out in the guidelines. Each institution can decide what to tackle first, whether it’s tenure, setting up a board, or improving teaching.

As Mr. Postiglione of the University of Hong Kong puts it: “The central government really provides a macroplan. Then it’s up to the provinces.”

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
International
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Illustration showing a letter from the South Carolina Secretary of State over a photo of the Bob Jones University campus.
Missing Files
Apparent Paperwork Error Threatens Bob Jones U.'s Legal Standing in South Carolina
Pro-Palestinian student protesters demonstrate outside Barnard College in New York on February 27, 2025, the morning after pro-Palestinian student protesters stormed a Barnard College building to protest the expulsion last month of two students who interrupted a university class on Israel. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
A College Vows to Stop Engaging With Some Student Activists to Settle a Lawsuit Brought by Jewish Students
LeeNIHGhosting-0709
Stuck in limbo
The Scientists Who Got Ghosted by the NIH
Protesters attend a demonstration in support of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, March 10, 2025, in New York.
First-Amendment Rights
Noncitizen Professors Testify About Chilling Effect of Others’ Detentions

From The Review

Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky
Photo-based illustration depicting a close-up image of a mouth of a young woman with the letter A over the lips and grades in the background
The Review | Opinion
When Students Want You to Change Their Grades
By James K. Beggan

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin