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China HIGHER EDUCATION
Background
Higher education reflects the changes in political policies
that have occurred in contemporary China. Since 1949 emphasis has
continually been placed on political re-education, and in periods
of political upheaval, such as the Great Leap Forward and the
Cultural Revolution, ideology has been stressed over professional
or technical competence. During the early stages of the Cultural
Revolution, tens of thousands of college students joined
Red Guard (see Glossary)
organizations, effectively closing down the higher
education system
(see The Cultural Revolution Decade
, ch. 1). In
general, when universities reopened in the early 1970s, enrollments
were reduced from pre-Cultural Revolution levels, and admission was
restricted to individuals who had been recommended by their work
unit
(danwei--see Glossary)
possessed good political
credentials, and had distinguished themselves in manual labor. In
the absence of stringent and reasonably objective entrance
examinations, political connections became increasingly important
in securing the recommendations and political dossiers necessary to
qualify for university admission. As a result, the decline in
educational quality was profound. Deng Xiaoping reportedly wrote
Mao Zedong in 1975 that university graduates were "not even capable
of reading a book" in their own fields when they left the
university. University faculty and administrators, moreover, were
demoralized by what they faced.
Efforts made in 1975 to improve educational quality were
unsuccessful. By 1980 it appeared doubtful that the politically
oriented admission criteria had accomplished even the purpose of
increasing enrollment of worker and peasant children. Successful
candidates for university entrance were usually children of cadres
and officials who used personal connections that allowed them to
"enter through the back door." Students from officials' families
would accept the requisite minimum two year work assignment in the
countryside, often in a suburban location that allowed them to
remain close to their families. Village cadres, anxious to please
the parent-official, gladly recommended these youths for university
placement after the labor requirement had been met. The child of an
official family was then on his or her way to a university without
having academic ability, a record of political activism, or a
distinguished work record.
After 1976 steps were taken to improve educational quality by
establishing order and stability, and calling for an end to
political contention on university campuses, and expanding
university enrollments. This pressure to maintain quality and
minimize expenditures led to efforts both to run existing
institutions more efficiently and to develop other college and
university programs. As a result, labor colleges for training
agro-technicians and factory-run colleges for providing technical
education for workers were established. In addition, eighty-eight
institutions and key universities were provided with special
funding, top students and faculty members, and other support, and
they recruited the most academically qualified students without
regard to family background or political activism.
Data as of July 1987
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