This blog post is aimed to illustrate some reflections on the development and changes of higher education in China from 1949 until today. It is a quite personal feeling reflections and may have some flaws.
Before the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, the education was a luxury for the common people. The majority of people (over 90%) can not read and write. My grandmother who was born in 1930s can not read or write and my grandfather was just graduated from the fifth grade in the elementary school. From 1949, the major assignment in education was to promote the common education to common people and at least let people can read and write basically. At that time, the higher education in China was established with the assistance from the former Soviet Union. All the college and university graduates will be assigned by the government. You major determines what you will do after graduation and most graduates will be assigned to the first line of production. This higher education system is major-orientated and that is why choosing a major is still important in Chinese education system and that is why most Chinese teachers prefer someone from the same major.
From 1949 to 1979, this strict education system provides lots of engineers for improving the economy. From 1980s, when China established formal diplomatic relationships with western countries, Chinese government begun to switch to European style in higher education. For example, a student only with bachelor’s degree can apply the Ph. D. program in United States but this was not accepted in most universities in China and Europe. However, the time of studying as a Ph.D is shorter in China. Ten years ago, most Ph.D. students in China can graduate in three years as there were fewer courses during these three years and students paid most of attention to research.
However, there are more and more American style program from 2005 since more oversee Chinese professors and graduates are willing to teach in China. Many universities establish a new school for those returning from western countries and change the program patterns such as accept students with only bachelor degree to Ph.D. program. Nowadays, the higher education system is a mixture as some universities still follows the old and stable ways while some universities decide to switch to more American style.
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