Nation urged to improve effectiveness of higher education
( 2003-12-25 17:07) (Xinhua)
China's higher education is
facing a precious improvement opportunity, but it is also facing a serious
challenge, said Minister of Education Zhou Ji, in an interview with Xinhua.
Last year, China's colleges had 160 million enrolled students, and the
admission rate was roughly over 15 percent, which is a great progress compared
with a decade ago. In spite of that, colleges still lack effectiveness and vigor
to foster young talented people applicable for current and future economic
construction, said the official.
China is a country with a huge population, and it must take advantage of its
human resources if it wants to achieve its ambitious economic goals, said Wang
Shuguo, president of the prestigious Harbin Polytechnical University.
Colleges need to shed traditional concepts, and learn from the mature
mechanism of higher education in the West in order to upgrade their
administration and operation. They should enhance communication with each other,
and strengthen links with overseas institutes, since China is becoming more
involved on the world stage than ever nowadays, Wang said.
Zhu Qingshi, president of the Chinese University of Science andTechnology,
said Chinese colleges should aim to train first-class graduates if they want to
earn international reputations.
According to Zhu, his university has set up programs to encourage college
students to participate in workshops and practice work that is designed to train
their creativity and awareness of service to the community. Special funds have
also been established to assist education programs for moral, physical and
aesthetic training.
Colleges and professors used to pay too much attention to students' test
scores rather than performance in other fields, which seems impractical and a
waste of human resources. Diversity must be encouraged on campus, and higher
education should be able to lay a solid foundation for the future development of
students in a variety of ways, said Zhu.
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