CHINA: Ex-premier criticises higher education reform

Critical remarks about China's university system and ambitious plans for higher education reform, made by a former Chinese premier, have raised questions about the current leadership's policy of pursuing world-class status for universities and ignited calls for academic freedom and institutional autonomy.

During a lecture at the elite Tsinghua University in Beijing, which last week celebrated the centenary of its founding, Zhu Rongji, who was the country's premier from 1998 to 2003, dismissed the Outline of China's National Plan for Medium and Long-Term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) as nothing but "empty talk".

The plan seeks to increase enrolment in higher education to 40% of the school-leaving cohort by 2020, and also talks of creating a string of world-class institutions - which include Tsinghua University.

Criticism of major policy from such a prominent political figure is extremely rare in China, and according to some blogs the remarks appeared to embarrass education officials who accompanied Zhu, including Education Minister Yuan Guiren.

Zhu, 82, who rarely appears in public, was the founding dean of Tsinghua University's school of economics and management. During his visit to the university he also criticised the expansion of university and college enrolment, which increased from less than a million in 1998 to more than six million last year.

The expansion was intended to stimulate the economy. Instead it led to rampant academic plagiarism, declining academic morality and rising unemployment of university graduates. It was seen as implicit criticism of the 2020 plan to increase enrolment further.

At the same time, Zhu lamented the lack of state support for rural education - seen by some as an attack on the bid to create world-class institutions that benefit young people in the cities with the opportunities and funds to prepare for stiff university entrance examinations.

After exchanging views with students on issues from education to the property market, Zhu reportedly gave students copies of a banned book on China's rural policies, and said that his purpose in giving them the book was to stimulate their critical awareness of issues.

Zhu no longer holds any official positions and his remarks, circulated on the microblog site Sina Weibo, were not published by official media. But many analysts believe they point to emerging ideological rifts within the Chinese leadership on the direction for higher education in the next decade.

Xiong Bingqi, Vice-president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said despite the remarks he was optimistic about the prospects of reform. "There is resistance, of course, but reform is a long process. We need to have patience and confidence."

A social science professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Ding Xueliang, also believed that Zhu's criticisms would have little impact on policy.

"His comments will be picked up by individuals pushing for education reform but it is unlikely his views will be adopted by the current bureaucrats in the education sector. He does not have much power now."

Zhu's remarks also sparked off renewed debate about the need for academic freedom and institutional autonomy, and possible leadership ambivalence in providing greater freedoms.

"A core value to world-class institutions is freedom of research, publication, teaching and students' activities on and outside campus. But now, such value is either not there or being honoured at a minimal level," Ding said, adding that Chinese university presidents are more tightly controlled by the government than their counterparts in other countries.

"Currently, if you want to make more meaningful reforms, you will face objections or obstacles posed by university bureaucrats since the reforms are likely to take away their control of resources. The bureaucrats like to limit any freedom left to university presidents, faculty or deans," Ding told University World News.

Unlike in the economic realm, where many state-owned firms have undergone far-reaching reforms to break away from bureaucratic control, the higher education sector remains "old-fashioned", Ding said. A key reason is the Chinese government's resolve to avoid a repeat of the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement that culminated in the Tiananmen crackdown.

"Preceding the protests then were waves of student activism on campus, interactions between professors and students, and visits by overseas academics. All this is still well-remembered by the Chinese government," Ding said.

He said it led to tight state control over the higher education sector, at the price of laggard development in higher education, not the mention the creation of world-class universities.

With government fears about unrest in the Middle East spreading to China, analysts said some officials might be less keen than ever to relax university control.

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