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Expansion sickness hits colleges

By Wen Ruimin: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, January 18, 2012

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Swallowing another generation [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

The scale of university education in China has expanded greatly during the past decade, with more youngsters having the chance to attend university. However, this expansion has caused problems, which I have diagnosed as the "five illnesses" afflicting Chinese universities.

The first is commercialization.

Nowadays,commercials can be found everywhere on Peking University's campus. Anybody who has the money can find a stage here. China's universities keep increasing enrollment or run all kinds of classes simply to make a profit. The result is that teachers cannot focus on teaching and students cannot focus on their studies. Instead, they are driven by financial impulses. The root of this chaos is insufficient investment in education and growing inequality in the distribution of education resources.

In addition, many Chinese professors hold several titles simultaneously and therefore have little time for research and teaching. Therefore, the quality of undergraduates has declined sharply, while the teacher shortage has risen. The income gap between teachers also contributes to this phenomenon. This situation should be addressed by managing distribution, or some teachers may teach for purely financial reasons. This would turn universities into market places and distort their original purpose.

The second is "programization".

"Programization" is the endless pursuit of different kinds of programs, even those lacking in academic value. This huge waste of time and resources is due to the fact that the present academic production and managerial systems, especially those for scientific and engineering studies, need programs to realize measurement management. So teachers must obtain academic positions through programs. In addition, each program receives financial support, which is why many scholars are obsessed with programs.

Meanwhile, academic corruption is rife. Conferences, the assessment of achievements and qualifications and program approval procedures are mere formalities. Banquets, sightseeing trips, gift-giving, exploiting connections and making deals are the outcomes of these academic activities. And many professors live a "programized" life and seldom tutor undergraduates. This term, the fact that I am teaching undergraduates in the School of Literature and Journalism of Shandong University, was reported by the local newspaper. Amazingly, what I considered a routine duty was thought newsworthy! How serious the problem of programization is!

I believe that today's short-sighted view of university as merely a springboard to a better job has eroded the essence of both university culture and the character of the social elite.

The third are mergers.

More and more universities were swallowed up in the recent wave of mergers. Such mergers can be beneficial in terms of breaking the original interest groups and expanding and advancing educational systems. However, many universities, by increasing their size and scope, have lost their traditions and character.

For example, Wuhan Institute of Hydraulic and Electric Engineering and Wuhan Geodesy and Geomatics College have become schools of Wuhan University in central China. Their standards for publishing academic papers have improved. But their educational principles and management style have been eroded.

The fourth is officialdom.

University administrative staff are now ranked in much the same way as public servants. For example, some university positions are equal to the post of vice minister. This may help the school to obtain resources, but it has also introduced the concept of officialdom to academia. Some university leaders are appointed from outside the school and have no concept of how the university functions. Also, those officials with no promotion prospects choose to become president or secretary of a university. All of this has led to the inflated value of official titles on campus, and it's somehow pathetic to see how some professors compete with each other to become section chief. Such behavior is not in keeping with the ethos and atmosphere of a university. Administration is integral to scientific research and teaching, but it should be the servant, not the master of teaching and research.

I have found that some secretaries of schools or departments in some universities are very powerful. They direct deans or heads, and people address each other by their titles as if they were in government. In such an environment, how can we cultivate an academic environment ripe for "free and tolerant thinking"? The excessive value placed on official titles has poisoned the thoughts and judgment of intellectuals.

Fifth, and last, is the obsession with "movements."

China's past has witnessed the birth of several social movements. Today, we remain obsessed with movements in the name of "reform", "innovation" and "strategy". Such movements may have good intentions, but their results are questionable.

Education has a hysteretic nature and cannot be constantly subject to change. We must ensure that an appropriate period of study precedes any such change, and we must be patient enough to wait for results.

Universities should resist movements which superior departments launch in order to showcase their administrative achievements. I was dean of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University for nine years. During this time, almost all Chinese departments in universities across China became schools. But I said: "We do not need to follow the trend."

In recent years, the Chinese department has striven to uphold good traditions and innovation. Thanks to the tolerance of Peking University's leaders, we are not forced to follow any movements. Running a school is not like running a factory. We put upholding good traditions before innovation to show the importance of the former. We do not support any "great leap forward" in education. What we can do, though, is stay true to the basic spirit of humanity and morality by putting them into practice.

The author is a professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University.

Li Shen translated this post, which was originally published in Chinese.

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