China boasts the world's largest high-level self-education system,
with 56 of every 10,000 people in the country having attended
self-study examinations for the equivalent of a college diploma.
According to Wang Minda, vice-director of the China Higher
Education Self-Study Supervision Committee, more than 3 million
Chinese have obtained diplomas over the past two decades without
setting foot inside a classroom.
The committee offers tests in 230 subjects in 11 categories and the
tests are open to everyone regardless of age.
Examinations for those who have pursued a course of self-study
started in 1981, mainly in urban areas, as part of a government
attempt to train more professionals for the country's modernization
drive.
Those who pass the exam equivalent of a college degree are
considered by education authorities to be college graduates.
Wang revealed that the self-study education system will be extended
to rural areas with the building of examination service
outlets.
Information technology will be applied in the new testing venues to
facilitate the development of self-study education, which,
according to experts, is playing an increasingly important role in
China's higher education.
(China Daily 05/31/2001)