Summary:

Earlier this month, China’s State Council released a document titled “Overall Programme for Promoting World-class Universities and Disciplines”, setting out the country’s plan to bring its leading universities up to the world-class level in terms of teaching, research and leadership management. The state council does not set numerical targets but calls for “a number of universities and disciplines” to reach a world-class level by 2020, with a further increase by 2030 accompanied by a significant increase in overall education quality. The State Council has promised increasing financial support and stronger performance management.

The document lists five key tasks for development and another five tasks for reform and transformation:

Development tasks:
• develop top-class academic staff, cultivating and introducing leading scientists, academic leaders and innovative teams
• cultivate more innovative and entrepreneurial graduates, with better capabilities in terms of innovative thinking and applied skills
• enhance scientific research capability, with a particular focus on national priority subject areas and on think-tanks which support national policies and have a global influence
• ensure that all universities teach in line with socialist core values and traditional Chinese culture
• place a higher priority on the transformation of scientific achievements into industrial output

Reform tasks:
• continue the Communist Party’s role in providing leadership and ideological guidance at HEIs
• optimise and standardise internal governance and management systems
• accelerate the reform of personnel systems, making use of improved training models, evaluation and performance-based pay, and improved resource allocation
• increase the involvement of local society and industries in the governance of HEIs, creating boards of governors with relevant stakeholders, as well as improving university-industry links and introducing specialised agencies for quality assurance
• strengthen international partnerships with world-class universities and research institutes, in order to enhance the international competitiveness of Chinese HEIs

The policy also calls for establishing incentive mechanisms to allocate funding based on performance, and reiterates previously stated goals for the development of individual institutions with distinctive strengths in order to increase the number of top-level disciplines. These goals are intended to reduce redundant construction and to increase competition, in contrast to the “985” and “211” programmes which are much less performance-based.

The Ministry of Education will have five-year sub-plans for the blueprint starting in 2016, which will also receive special funds from central financial departments. Funding allocations will be mainly based on the performance of universities, and third-party assessment mechanisms will be adopted to monitor the spending of these funds.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst Analysis and Liu Xiaoxiao, Education Services Manager:

This is far from the first Chinese policy calling for the establishment of world-class universities. The largest difference compared to previous policies with a similar aim is to place more weight on performance when allocating funds, as well as to place a stronger emphasis on industry relations and economic development rather than simply making scientific breakthroughs. Other aspects of the policy echo previously stated goals such as improving university governance, teaching and research quality, and encouraging institutions to develop strengths in particular subject areas.

Sources:

1. http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2015-11/05/content_10269.htm
2. http://english.gov.cn/policies/latest_releases/2015/11/05/content_281475...
3. http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2015/11-11/7618398.shtml