Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > FY2003 White Paper on Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology >Part1 Chapter4 Section6.2

It has been pointed out that China's institutions of higher education lost vitality in the mid-1980s because of strong government controls, which was an adverse effect of the planned economy period. The government thus relaxed these controls and began reforms to expand the discretionary powers of institutions of higher education. As a result, curricula, teachers and finances were basically entrusted to institutions of higher education, and institutions of higher education were able to make their own decisions regarding corporate administration and collaboration with outside companies. To finalize these reforms to expand the discretionary powers of institutions of higher education, the institutionalization of national and public institutions was stipulated in the Higher Education Law, which was enacted in 1998.

With the expansion of the discretionary power of institutions of higher education, however, governmental macro-management was emphasized, and the government began evaluations in the mid-1990s. These evaluations were initially centered on evaluations in which it was judged whether institutions were meeting standards for educational conditions and quality. This was reviewed in 2002, however, and the educational situation of every institution of higher education was judged as "excellent," "good," "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory." The government made educational evaluations every five years mandatory, and the results of these evaluations are reflected in budget allocations.

Campus of Tsinghua University (Peking). (The building in the background is thelibrary.)

This deregulation and strengthening of evaluation can be called policies to promote raising the quality of educational research while institutions of higher education respond to diverse demands in a competitive environment. Another one of these policies is the 211 Process, a concentrated investment in specified universities that has been carried out since 1996. The goal of the 211 Process is to "move towards the 21st century, developing 100 universities." The universities that applied were evaluated, and in the end, 96 universities including Tsinghua University and Peking University were chosen to be the focus of the program. These universities received a total of 10.9 billion yuan (160 billion yen) in grants from the national and local governments over five years. This amount is equivalent to 20 percent of the national and local budget for higher education in 2000.

The principle of competition was also incorporated in the treatment of teachers. Fixed-term contract systems were carried out for all teachers through the 1990s, and performance-based wages based on results have also been spreading. A system in which outstanding researchers are called upon and given special treatment called the System for Professors on Special Contracts was newly established in 1998. These professors, whose mission is to raise the level of their department up to international standards, are paid allowances several times higher than regular salaries, and receive incentive money for outstanding research results. As of 2003, more than 500 people throughout the country had been designated as professors on special contracts. Financial incentives have also been set up for young teachers and students returning from aboard.

The industrial activities of institutions of higher education acting on their own discretion, such as research and development for companies and corporate administration by the universities, are becoming livelier. In 2001, 575 universities, approximately half of all the institutions of higher education, established 5,000 companies, 40 percent of which are high-tech businesses. Some of these companies have grown into the country's leading corporate groups. In addition, venture companies are invited to districts centered on universities, and cooperation with universities in research and development is moving forward. The creation of "university science parks" is also moving forward with the aim of nurturing this cooperation. In 2001, the government designated 23 districts as "national university science parks" and universities in these districts include Peking University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Regarding reforms accompanying the transition to a market economy, management system reforms involving the transfer of control to local governments, joint administration by the national and local governments, and the integration and reorganization of national universities and the administrative participation of companies in national universities were carried out on a large scale in the 1990s, and the percentage of national universities was reduced from close to 40 percent to 10 percent.