China’s Higher Education

Yingyi QianSchool of Economics and Management

Tsinghua UniversityDecember 1, 2010

Agenda

• An overview of China’s higher education• The case of Tsinghua University and its

School of Economics and Management

China’s Higher Education: An Overview

• Before 1949– The influence of the West– Public, private, missionary universities

• 1949-1977– The Soviet influence– The impact of Mao

• 1977-now

The Quantity Dimension

• Enormous expansion of China’s higher education since 1998

• Raw enrolment rate of college students: from 5% in late 1990s to 24% in 2009

Annual New Enrolment (million)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

new

col

lege

stu

dent

s

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

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2006

2007

2008

2009

Source: China Statistical Yearbook 2010; Unit, million

Total College Enrollment (million) and Raw Enrollment Rate (%)

0

3

6

9

12

15

18

21

24

raw

col

lege

enr

ollm

ent r

ate

(uni

t, %

)

0

3

6

9

12

15

18

21

24

tota

l col

lege

enr

ollm

ent (

unit,

milli

on)

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

total college enrollment (left)raw college enrollment rate(right)

Source: China Statistical Yearbook 2010, China Populatoin Statistical Yearbook(various years)Notes: raw college enrallment rate calculated for population of 18-21 year old

The Quality Dimension

• Project “211” (100 universities in the 21st

century, mid-1990s)• To build “world class universities” (May 4,

1998 Centennial Speech at Peking University by President Jiang Zemin)

• Project “985” (after President Jiang Zemin’sspeech in May of 1998)

Shanghai Jiao Tong “Academic Ranking of World Universities”

• The ranking started to publish in 2003, as a result of aspirations for “world class universities”

• Positive impacts– Worldwide universities, objective measures, single

criteria (not country specific)– Huge impacts in Europe (shocks), Asia (aspirations)

• Biases– Academic research only, not teaching and education– Mainly science and engineering, not humanities, little

social sciences

Top Universities in China

• “C9 universities” (Chinese “Ivy League”)– Peking, Tsinghua (original two on “985” list)– Fudan, Shanghai Jiao Tong, Zhejiang, Nanjing,

Xi’an Jiaotong– Harbin Institute of Technology, University of

Science and Technology of China

Government planning (1)

• “The National Medium- and Long-Term Talent Development Plan (2010-2020)”(announced on June 6, 2010)

• “The Thousand Talent Project”（“千人计划”）: Bring back to China 2,000 top talents within five to ten years

Government planning (2)

• “The National Medium- and Long-Term Plan for Educational Reform and Development (2010-2020)” (announced on July 29, 2010)

• Targets:– Raw enrolment of college students: to reach

40% in 2020– Government fiscal expenditure on education as

% of GDP: to reach 4% in 2012

Tsinghua University

• Established in 1911 as a boarding school to prepare students for US college education (8 years high school plus junior college education)

• Began to accept undergraduates in 1925• A top comprehensive university in China in 1930s

and 1940s• Restructured as an engineering university in 1952• Became a comprehensive university again after

1980

Government’s initiatives

• Funding mainly for science and engineering, through “211” and “985” (the latter is more important)

• Three phases of “985” funding– Phase I (1999-2001): 1.8 billion RMB– Phase II (2003-2007): 1.8 billion RMB– Phase III (2010-2013): 3.3 billion RMB

School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM)

• Combination of economics and business• 8 departments: Economics, Finance, Accounting,

Strategy, Organization Behavior, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Management Science

• Faculty: 146 (132 holding PhD degrees, of which 69 holding overseas PhD degrees)

• Faculty recruitment: 55 new recruits in the last 5 years, all but 2 from overseas, mostly U.S. and Canada

• Staff: 240

Student Enrolment by Program

Full-Time: 1,9883,906Total

Undergraduate 996 Overseas: 76

Master’s/Doctoral 576 Doctoral: 256

MBA 1,347 International MBA: 254

EMBA 987 International EMBA: 84

Second-degree undergraduate

460

Undergraduate Admission

• National College Entrance Exam– Nearly 10 million high school students each June take

the exam in 31 provinces– Two tracks: sciences, humanities

• Tsinghua SEM admits only 180 students– About 30 exempt from the exam as they received top

prizes in national or provincial competitions– About 90-100 are ranked top 10 in each province– About 20 are provincial number 1’s (in either sciences

or humanities track)– The average admission scores are ranked number 1 in

both tracks among all schools of Tsinghua

The New Undergraduate Curriculum: Two Themes

• General education– Value– Capability– Knowledge

• Individual development/customization– Freshmen seminars (over ten to choose from)– The second degree programs (in math, law, etc)– Honors programs in three tracks (academic,

entrepreneurship, leadership)

General Education: Core Courses　 Basic Skill Courses Core Courses

　 Chinese English Mathematics Humanities Social Sciences Natural Sciences

1st Year Fall

Chinese Composition Oral English (1) Linear

Algebra Western

Civilization Principles of

Economics (1) 　

　 　 　UnivariateCalculus 　 　 　

1st Year Spring

Introduction to Communication Oral English (2) Multivariate

Calculus Chinese

Civilization Principles of

Economics (2) 　

　 　 　 　 　Introduction to

Psychology 　

2nd Year Fall 　

English Composition (1)

Probability and Statistics

Critical Thinking and Moral Reasoning

　Introduction

to Life Sciences

2nd Year Spring 　

English Composition (2) 　 Art and Aesthetics China and the

World Fundamentals

of Physics

The MBA Admission Reform

• The National Exam for MBA Admissions– The test score was the only criteria for admission

• The new admission criteria– Overall quality rather than just written test scores– Considering both explicit indicators and potentials

• The new admission process– Three steps: application, interview, the national exam – Making “conditional offers” before the national exam

(commitment to admission provided that the applicant should pass the minimum national score required by the government)

MBA First Year Core CoursesFall Semester Spring Semester

Managerial Thinking and Communications

Corporate Finance

Leadership Development and Organizational Behavior

Marketing

Ethics and Corporate Accountability Operations Management

English (or Chinese) Strategic Management

Accounting China’s Institutional Environment and Business Law

Managerial Economics The Chinese Economy in the World

Data, Models and Decisions Management of Global Enterprises

Integrative Practical Projects

Competition among Business Schools in China

• 200+ MBA schools, 30,000+ annual student intake• University business schools: 4 top schools

– Tsinghua SEM (Beijing)– Peking U Guanghua School of Management (Beijing)– Fudan University School of Management (Shanghai)– Shanghai Jiao Tong University College of Economics &

Management (Shanghai)• Standalone business schools: 2 schools

– CEIBS (Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen) (“Sino-Europe joint venture”)

– CKGSB (Beijing) (“quasi private”)