The yearly gaokao (national college entrance examinations) takes place all over China today. The exam, which will last two to three days, has long been considered the ticket to a bright future and successful career for a lot of Chinese students.
According to various reports, however, the number of exam-takers has been decreasing in the last few years. The total number of examinees this year is 9.57 million, 650,000 fewer than those who took the test in 2009.
The sharp drop in gaokao participants poses a tough challenge to higher education in China. In the last two decades, universities in China have enthusiastically engaged in a competition more fierce than that in the field of educational quality.
Universities and colleges, big or small, national or provincial, have been blindly expanding by building magnificent teaching buildings and fancy school gates. Undoubtedly, the high-speed expansion has greatly satisfied the vanity of the authorities. But in the meantime, it has also masked underlying problems. Among them, the most urgent are heavy debt and a lack of em-phasis on the quality of education.
According to a recent report by the China Business News, the total debt of universities in China is around 200 billion yuan ($29.29 billion) at the moment. If the number seems alarming, the following forecast is even more striking: The population of people between the ages of 18 and 22 will drop by 38 million in 2020 from this year.
That means many universities will find themselves in a most awkward situation: There will not be enough students to fill the huge campuses. Universities already in severe debt will be faced with the possibility of bankruptcy.
China is lagging behind in preparing the next generation of talented people. The contradiction between the lack of universities and the possible bankruptcy of existing ones reflects the tough reality that the quality of higher education in China is too low.
The first and most important thing is for universities to raise their educational quality. For decades, the number of Chinese students going abroad to study has been much bigger than the number of foreign students who come to China. China has an open opportunity to reset its status in the field of education.
Chinese universities have to lure international students with quality programs. Increasing the admission of international students will also be an important step in improving the quality of higher education and deepening the sector's reform.
The fundamental reason for the national strength of the US is that American universities draw talented people from all over the world. Many of the students chose to stay there, providing the US with a steady stream of talent.
For China, becoming a center of overseas study for international students will require more than just a vast playground. A top-quality educational system is very much needed.
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