Private Universities in the PRC? A Long Way to Go

People in the PRC often say of the job market there: "Those with advanced degrees take their choice. Those with a bachelor's degree take what they can get. Vocational school graduates take a number and wait." Small wonder, then, that parents there try so hard to help their children get ahead.

At the Third National Education Conference in 1999, PRC Premier Zhu Rongji noted with distress: "Of the 14 million students graduating each year from middle school, half aren't able to continue on to high school. And of the 3.5 million high school graduates, 70 percent can't go to university."

Bottlenecks

"A lot of parents in single-child families are very upset about the big bottlenecks in the educational system. They say that placing all the students in successively higher levels of school is like trying to get an entire army across a river via a foot bridge." This is the observation of Chen Han-chiang, a former director of the Taipei City Bureau of Education, who has been exploring possibilities in Shanghai for the past year. According to Chen, the quality of education at most public elementary and secondary schools in mainland China does not meet parents' expectations. Parents everywhere are anxious to get their kids into high-quality private schools, where admission fees range from 10,000 to 100,000 yuan. At the university level, however, the government is reluctant to open the market to private entrants.

But even though government policy is ambiguous, many people are working hard behind the scenes in preparation for eventual deregulation. Chen Han-chiang notes that Tulane University in the United States has already secured a site at Shanghai Zhang-jiang Hi-Tech Park, where it intends to set up a branch campus.

Shu-De University is the brainchild of Martin Nyeu, principal of Taipei's Chiang Shu High School. Nyeu is planning to build a school in Shanghai's Maqiao Township that goes from kindergarten through university. In 1998 the Shanghai Municipal Education Committee approved Nyeu's application to establish a three-year college, but Nyeu has his sights set on a four-year university.

"I wouldn't have enough money to establish a university in Taiwan," says Nyeu, whose family has been engaged in education ever since the late Qing dynasty. "The land is very expensive there. And besides, there are already quite a few private universities in Taiwan that enjoy the financial support of churches or business groups. The list includes Tunghai University, Providence University, Soochow University, Chang Gung University, and Yuan-Ze University, for example. It would be very hard for a new school to come in and compete with them, but on the mainland there's room for me to pursue my ideals."

Waiting for approval

Chen Han-chiang plans for Shu-De University to offer majors targeted toward the needs of the mainland job market, such as digital art, information, and video game production. Says Chen: "Beijing University is going to offer courses in digital art during the upcoming summer semester. There's a worldwide shortage of personnel in this area. And foreign languages are even a more important focus of the curriculum. First-year university students who fail to score 600 or more on the TOEFL exam will not be admitted to second year. And professors will be hired on sabbatical leave from well-known overseas universities."

According to the planning document: "The short-term goal is to start recruiting students in 2002. The medium-term goal is to become a comprehensive university with 4,000 students within six years."

Over 20 copies of the voluminous planning document were sent to the members of the Shanghai Municipal Education Committee for their perusal, and all agreed that it was the best plan that they had seen from any applicant, but in May the committee rejected the application on the grounds that there was "insufficient proof of funding." Shu-De's Cheng Hsiao-huei complained that the planners were faced with a Catch-22 situation: "We can't send any funds over until they give their approval for the school's establishment, but we can't get approval because we can't prove we've got any funds."

Shu-De University is not the first to attempt to break through the barriers and establish a private university.

Confucian dream

In 1994, a group of natives of Hubei Province now living in Taiwan tried to set up a Buddhist University in that province. But the plan foundered on problems over funding. In 1997, Chung Yuan Christian University professor Feng Ting-ya hatched the idea of founding a "Confucius University" and using the great sage as a catalyst for promoting increased contact across the Taiwan Strait. But then the Asian financial crisis hit the region and investors were scared away.

Although the difficulties are myriad, many are convinced that improving the quality of universities will change the PRC. According to Kung Peng-cheng, a former head of the Department of Cultural and Educational Affairs at the Mainland Affairs Council: "Universities in Taiwan offer a far better education than their counterparts on the mainland. The mainland has a communist 'worker, soldier, peasant' ethic, which denigrates intellectuals. And the influence of politics is overwhelming. The foundation for a strong university education system is weak." Kung, who currently serves as president of Fokuang University, has visited the mainland numerous times to check out the education market there.

In any case, educational institutions are clearly not as welcome in the PRC as high-tech firms. According to Chen Han-chiang, "The mainland authorities feel like universities represent the last bastion of the planned economy, and they are not about to let market forces break down the doors so easily."

The key factor determining the pace of change will be China's admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Says Chen: "Once they've joined the WTO, the entire educational system will be in for a reorganization. It's perhaps a bit early just now to enter the mainland market, but you still have to be making preparations, especially when you consider how quickly policies over there can change. It just takes a word from some high-ranking official. It's not like here in Taiwan, where the legislature can fight over something for years."

Should the Taiwanese set up universities on the mainland? If so, when? The monumental task of education has occupied the efforts of countless concerned individuals, but one wonders: In Taiwan as well as the mainland, when will the educational needs of the next generation will take priority over cross-strait politics?

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Many educators in Taiwan hope to reform mainland China through education. They are now hoping the mainland authorities will drop their policy against the establishment of private universities in the PRC. Pictured here is Tsinghua University, one of China's oldest. (photo by Jimmy Lin)