Scepticism over latest ‘world-class’ universities plan

China is eager to improve the standing of its higher education sector, wanting it to match the country’s economic clout, but a blueprint released late last year aimed at boosting the construction of “world-class universities and world-class majors” has been widely criticised as “old wine in a new bottle”, writes Alice Yan for South China Morning Post.

The plan – the third such effort in two decades – envisages China having “a certain number” of universities and “a batch” of majors recognised as world-class by 2020. More would join them by 2030 and by 2050 China would become a country with a strong higher education sector that ranked highly internationally in terms of world-class universities and majors.

However, experts doubt the plan will help China achieve those goals. They said top mainland universities’ global rankings had remained largely static for the past two decades, despite generous funding by the authorities, due to less than stellar academic progress.
Full report on the South China Morning Post site