For many Chinese people, the beginning of 2011 holds the promise of a fresh round of education reforms, which are expected to boost the country’s education quality through increasing government investment, narrowing gaps between urban and rural schools, achieving internationally acknowledged higher education and reducing academic corruption and bureaucracy.
According to the landmark reform plan, government investment will increase steadily to support the education sector, with education expenditure amounting to 4% of GDP by 2012.
China first pledged to increase its education spending to 4 percent of the GDP in 1993, but has, so far, failed to achieve the target. The plan, which took one year and nine months to draw up and invited public submission on two separate occasions, was seen as setting the tone for the development of education sector, which has long suffered from funding shortage and unbalanced development between rural and urban areas.
The development of education, ranging from preschool education to vocational education in rural areas, will be a priority of the country’s overall development programs.
The 22-chapter plan says preschool education should basically be universal by 2020, and nine-year compulsory education policy should be consolidated. The enrolment rate for senior middle school should be 90 percent of school age children, while the enrolment rate for higher education should be 40 percent of high school graduates.
The key for China to build world-level universities lies in authorizing the educators, students and society to assess the quality of education, allowing professors to conduct academic research with full freedom and empowering students to participate in university administration.
