China is starting to change their ways about how they view higher education. An article in the New York Times talked about how China is now making a new investment in "human Capital". What this means is that the leaders of the country are placing more money into education and helping many people obtain some sort of higher learning. People who live in this country feel that it is time for a change in the education system. How people thought of education in the past was that a small amount of higher education officials lead semi educated workers. Now China wants a more people in the public to be educated so that the population looks similar to the middle class of the United States. The country's main goal is to get out of the area of cheap labor and finally be able to compete with the white collar workers of the United States and in Europe.
There is a growing supply of universities that are popping all over China. One man that is helping the growth of universities is Li Shufu. In the article it talks about how with the help of Mr. Shufu's help there were three universities that allow over 20,000 students to attend. With the growing number of students graduating from these new universities they are being hired by very well-known companies like Intel. There is a problem that is arising because of the fast growth of universities in China and that is there is a shrinking supply of qualified professors for the new schools. Many universities are having a difficult time in finding professors that have had experience in teaching at the university level. In the article there is other problem that is being noticed since China starting expanding the education system for higher learning. The problem that the country has faced other than lack of teachers; they have also facing the problem of many students studying abroad to western schools. Many students are noticing that they can excel in any university in the west because they do not have the same high standards like Chinese universities.
The change that China is facing is in much need. In the article it talks about how many people want a change in how the business world in china works. In the past there were very few people who were "elite" because of their higher education. The only problem with running companies like that is the fact that many different countries are competing against one another to be the best. If China even wants to be a country that can keep up with other countries they needed to change who is going into the business world, and that is what they did. Creating many new universities was a very good place to start in creating better qualified graduates. In building better schools for college age students the country is allowing more students who meet the standards to attend and with that a better chance of working with well- known companies. There are many good things that China is doing for its college students. One thing that was shown in the article that was a positive thing was the low tuition rates that the students have to pay. It stated in the article the "annual tuition is a little less than $1,000"; that is no where as expensive as colleges are in the United States. Many students have to pay way more money than that if they want to attend a university. There are some things that are going to hurt the progress of China's growth in universities, and that is how the professors teach. The country may have very new campuses for the upcoming college students but unless the professors can stop the "outdated" method of teaching things may slow down in the near future. Many professors in the universities are not changing the old way of standing in front of a class and lecturing for a given amount of time. When this happens many students will find other places to go find an education; that is what some are actually doing. In the article it talked about how many students are going to other universities in different countries in study abroad programs. Many students like how the United States universities are ran and they tend to flock every year to the universities here. If China does not want all these new universities to fail they need to realize that students do not learn best by just listening; they want to interact and talk about the subject.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/business/chinas-ambitious-goal-for-boom-in-college-graduates.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=education
Ashley Roberts
1/25/2013
1:52 AM
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