The Ministry of Education has started to draft provisions for
Sino-foreign jointly run universities as the country will allow
more overseas partners to run higher learning institutions.
The move comes in the wake of China's entry into the World Trade
Organization last year.
The ministry declined to give details of the provisions, but said
they will be submitted to the State Council, which will issue
regulations as soon as possible.
The provisions are based on the ministry's inspections in Beijing,
Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing
and Zhengzhou, and surveys of foreign countries through Chinese
embassies and consulates.
Although the current number of Sino-foreign joint universities is
not available, the Academic Degree Committee under the State
Council said the country has 45 cooperative higher learning
programs.
These programs are operated by the United States, Australia,
France, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Thailand, Canada and
China's Hong Kong.
The 45 programs have played a supplementary role in cultivating
experts which are badly needed in economic sectors, according to
the committee.
Sino-foreign cooperation on operating higher education, together
with such issues as basic education and investment in learning, was
highly regarded by members of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and deputies of the National
People's Congress (NPC) at sessions of NPC and CPPCC
last year.
They raised some proposals to propel the development of basic
education and Sino-foreign joint schools.
The Ministry of Education considered these proposals on its way to
solving the issues.
To
lessen the burden of farmers, the ministry and regional educational
administrations inspected schools in rural areas of 30 provinces,
municipalities and autonomous regions, to ensure fair tuition fee
collection.
In
recent years, some schools in rural areas collected inconsistent
fees from students to make profits, putting a heavy burden on their
families.
A
middle school in Xianyang of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province,
for example, forced students to buy extra notebooks and reading
material. The schoolmaster has been removed from his post for
allowing the random fee collection, sources from the ministry
said.
The ministry has urged regional governments and educational
departments to help improve schools with relatively poor teaching
efficiency.
It
aims to provide all students with high-quality learning
opportunities, and prevent those with better teaching staff from
overcharging students in the name of "first-class education."
The ministry will further treasure suggestions on education which
may be given at the coming NPC and CPPCC sessions during the next
two weeks, said its spokesperson.
(China
Daily March 4, 2002)