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Innovations in Post-Secondary Education in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Extract

It is hardly a secret that in the PRC the lack of educational opportunities beyond the secondary level has reached an acute stage due to severe shortages of facilities and instructors. While great strides have been made in the last three decades in advancing literacy and developing the educational system, the tertiary level has expanded the least in comparison. The resulting bottleneck could have dire effects, given the social consequences of creating unattainable expectations among middle school graduates.

Type
Research Note
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1982

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References

1. The figures are from Beijing Review, No. 1 (7 01 1980), p. 28Google Scholar and Beijing Review, No. 30 (28 07 1980), pp. 1921Google Scholar, and were more or less confirmed to us in interviews in China during August and September 1981. Xinhua No. 110330, 3 11 1981)Google Scholar quotes Gao Yi, vice-minister for education as saying there are only 204,000,000 students. It is possible the number has decreased due to the closing of marginal schools in rural areas. Gao also said there were 1·14 million full-time and 1·55 part-time students in “institutes of higher learning.” It is possible that pan-time students were not included in the original BR figures.

2. Guangming Ribao reported on 13 07 1981Google Scholar (Joint Publications Research Service, 78901, 3 September 1981, p. 41) that 2·85 million people took the college entrance examinations. However, on 1 August 1981 Guangming Ribao (JPRS, 79073, 25 09 1981, p. 33)Google Scholar reported that 2,589,000 people signed up to take the tests to enter college in the autumn of 1981.

3. Another innovation, for China at least, is having students live at home and pay tuition costs which run from 20 to 25 RMB a term. These students attend classes in the evening when the facilities are not used by the regular students and upon graduation must find their own employment. See Beijing Review, No. 39 (29 09 1980), pp. 67.Google Scholar

4. There are also numerous spare-time classes which teach skills or subjects at the middle-school level. These are not the college-level classes being discussed here.

5. Beijing Review, No. 20, (19 05 1980), p. 29Google Scholar; No. 41, (13 October 1980), pp. 6–7; No. 11, (16 March 1981), p. 31; No. 41, (12 October 1981), pp. 19–25.