THE REFORM OF HIGHER EDUCATI0N

Chinese economic system used to be very highly centralized£® To adapt to that, the former higher education system was also centralized, with education provided by the central and local governments respectively and directly under their administration. The disadvantages of this system were that the state undertook too much responsibilities and the schools lacked the flexibility and autonomy to provide education according to the needs of the society, With central departments and local governments providing education separately, the structure of education was irrational and segmented£® There were too many single disciplinary HEIs and professional HEIs, With the establishment of disciplines over-lapped, the efficiency of some HEIs fell very low which in return hampered the improvement of education quality. Therefore, the structural reform of higher education has become a key for other higher education reforms. The reforms of higher education consists of five parts£º reforms of education provision, management, investment, recruitment and job-placement, and the inner-institute management, among which management reform is of most importance and difficulty. The overall objectives of higher education reform are to smooth the relationship among government, society and HEIs, setting up and perfecting a new system in which the state is responsible for the overall planning and macro management while the HEIs follow the laws and enjoy the autonomy to provide education according to needs of the society.

After several years, endeavour, the structural reform of higher education has gained heartening achievements£º In the field of education provision reform, the old system in which the state undertook the establishment of all HEIs has been broken, and a new system in which the government take main responsibility with the active participation of society and individuals has been taking shape. The development of HEIs run by social forces are fully encouraged and supported.

Regarding management system reform, the relationship among universities, government and society has been gradually smoothed out by various ways such as joint establishment, adjustment, cooperation and merger. A two-level education provision system has taken shape in which the central and local government will take different responsibilities to provide education with the former responsible for the overall planning and management£® As a result, the overlapping of education was overcome, At the same time, the government streamline their administration and delegate more power to the HEIs, expanding their autonomy of providing education for the society according to the laws. Since 1992, 251 HEIs have been merged into l35, with the decrease of 116 HEIs,87 adult HEIs have been merged into regular HEIs. 177 HEIs have taken part in the joint establishment, among which 43 are affiliated to the Ministry of Education, 44 to other Central departments, 90 to local govermments. The joint establishment have five forms £º joint establishment by provincial government and central departments, by municipality and central departments, by pronincial government and municipality, by provincial government, municipality and central departments and by central departments. Nationally, 168 HEIs which were directly under the administration of central departments are now under the local governments.8 HEIs which used to be administrated by provincial professional departments are now under the administration of provincial education committees. 317 HEIs have developed inter-institute joint education provision and establish 277 cooperative education provision entities. Among the participating HEIs, 43 are affiliated to the MoE, 140 to other central departments and 134 to local governments. 241 HEIs have cooperated with 5218 enterprises to provide education with various forms. With enterprises, enterprises groups and research institutes taking part in higher education provision, the relationship between HEIs and society is strengthened and the over capacity of schooling of HEIs is increased.

With regard to the financing system, the old system in which the funding of higher education depended on the governments only has been changed and a new system capable of pooling resources from diverse channels with the main responsibilities on government has been gradually established and perfected.

With regard to the reform of system of recruitment, fees charging and graduates jobplacing, on the basis that all citizens should enjoy the legally equal right of receiving higher education, which should be consistently stick to, in the light of local economic development, a new system in which all students should pay reasonable contribution to their own higher education has taken shape. Simultaneously, a scholarship system for excellent student both academically and morally and a loan, stipend and taking part-time jobs system for students with family economic difficulties has been brought into common practice, ensuring that none students will drop out of school because of economic reasons. After their graduation, the students will mainly select their own jobs under the guidance of the state policy. In addition, the MoE is undertaking the reform of examination and recruitment of HEIs which will help HEIs to select talents and expand the autonomy of schooling, thus laying the foundation of training creative talents, and also help the secondary schools to implement comprehensive quality oriented education.

With regard to the reform of internal administration mechanism. The key lies in the personnel system and the allotment system reforms. On the basis of reasonable organization structure delimitation, all the teaching staff carry out the post responsibility system and appointment system and working achievements are emphasized concerning the personal income allotment, which strengthens the encouragement mechanism in allotment and mobilized the enthusiasm of the teaching.