Legislators call for less state meddling in universities

China’s legislators have called for the government to reduce its intervention in university management, which they warned will pose an obstacle to technological innovation, writes Nectar Gan for the South China Morning Post.

Excessive government interference on university campuses had led to frequent personnel changes, costly, eye-catching projects and overstated enthusiasm among professors in pursuing administration positions, delegates from central Anhui province told a recent National People’s Congress panel discussion.

In this year’s government work report, the central government has high hopes that innovation will give a boost to China’s slowing economic growth. However, Liu Fanzhong, a professor at Peking University and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that it was hard to push for technological innovation if the system of management at universities did not undergo a reform, Anhuinews .com reported.
Full report on the South China Morning Post site