Quality Guarantee
3 Quality Guarantee
STRENGTHENING CHARACTER EDUCATION IN UNIVERSITIES
ADJUSTMENT OF CURRICULA AND DEVELOPMENT OF STATE-LEVEL PREMIUM COURSES
ASSURANCE OF TEACHING CONDITIONS
MULTI-LEVEL TEACHING QUALITY EVALUATION SYSTEM
China's higher education institutions have the tradition of stressing quality in cultivating talent, which they regard as the lifeline of higher education and which they always strive to improve. With the expansion of college enrollments in the late 1990s, the quality of higher education became a concern for the state and society at large. The government and universities adopted a series of measures to improve the conditions in the running of schools and to ensure the quality of teaching, while providing more higher education opportunities to meet the People's demand. During that period, higher education dealt with three major issues. The first was to improve the quality and optimize the structure of training specialized professionals, to meet the need for diversified specialists for socio-economic development. The second was to emphasize the cultivation of students' comprehensive abilities, especially practical and innovative abilities. The third was to promote the sharing of quality resources in order to provide more and better higher education. Based on years of exploration and practice, a quality-guarantee system for higher education has come into being, which covers undergraduate, graduate, and adult students.
China is currently paying even greater attention to the quality of higher education. More and more people have realized that the traditional quality criteria are no longer adequate for evaluating popularized higher education. The quality of higher education in the new era should be understood with reference to its diversity and distinctive features. Popularized higher education does not mean the exclusion of “elite” academic education. As a matter of fact, the curricular setup and organization of China's universities for undergraduate education are quite comprehensive. The requirements for teaching are strict and China's college graduates are acclaimed worldwide for their mastery of systematic basic theories and solid basic skills. In recent years, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand have signed agreements with China on mutual recognition of higher education records and degrees.
QUALITY CONTROL OF TEACHING
Higher education institutions are the main entities in improving the quality of teaching. Their first and foremost task is to promote the harmonious development of students' physical, intellectual and moral well-being, and their personality. Quality is the key to the whole process of higher education, from the setup of academic disciplines and the goals of student training to the arrangement of actual teaching.
Setup of academic specialties
In China, the setup of academic specialties classifies the basic areas and directions of student training. The establishment of academic specialties is one part of the infrastructure of teaching and the relevant procedures should be rigorously complied with. Schools need to follow the state-issued Catalog of Undergraduate Academic Disciplines and relevant criteria for the respective specialties. When a university needs to add a new specialty, its academic committee and administrative departments must discuss the plan thoroughly. Two steps are required: application and experiment.
The prerequisites for applying to start a new specialty are: the country's socio-economic development needs; steady demand for relevant professionals; clear direction of the specialty and key subjects; clear job opportunities for graduates; applicable education plan; adequate number of teachers; and necessary funds. The applicant is responsible for making sure that these conditions are ready.
The basic requirements for formal application are: applicable teaching plan and other relevant teaching conditions; capability to offer basic courses and technical basic courses in the new specialty; adequate number of qualified teachers, teaching and experimental equipment, books and other reference materials; ability to complete all preparations for teaching the specialty within two years; and ability to provide basic teaching, learning, and living conditions for students of the planned specialty, such as dormitories, classrooms, library, and factories where students can do fieldwork.
After these basic requirements are met, the university should submit an application to the Ministry of Education for record a year before formal enrollment of students. At present, most higher education institutions are entitled to set up new specialties in most fields of study. With consideration for teaching order and quality, however, the state has set a limit on the number of new specialties, usually three to six for one university per year. At the same time, the government controls the setup of a small number of specialties, such as those in great demand and some that involve the risking of life. Universities must obtain permission from relevant administrative departments before they can offer such specialties and enroll students. Universities set great store by the setup and plan of specialties and the conditions for establishing new ones. Every university has its own plan and builds its specialties accordingly.
One trend in recent years is the emphasis on wide content range, solid foundation, and strong adaptability of undergraduate specialties. The state recognizes 249 specialties in its catalog of specialties for undergraduate education, and a few extra-catalog specialties as called for by actual demand. The second trend is the flexibility and job-orientation of post-secondary vocational and technical schools and junior colleges. Their setup of specialties is under the overall management of the provincial government, which does not stipulate a unified catalog. These schools and colleges follow the actual needs of society rather than the development of a certain field of study to set up specialties, which are thus relatively more diversified. The third trend is the emphasis on inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary graduate education.
Reform of the mode of student training
The mode of student training has a great bearing on quality. Under the planned economy, China's universities used to implement a mode of specialized training. Disciplines and specialties were set up in accordance with national socio-economic development and the regulations set by the science departments. The specialties were narrow in scope and some were even limited to a specific product. Universities made teaching plans in strict accordance with the goals of student training. They made sure that students completed all the required courses and teaching processes within a specified period (academic years). This mode was appropriate for planned enrollment and job allocation, and for training specialists of various specifications according to national and social needs in a well-planned manner. Its management was simple and efficient. But students thus trained had a narrow specialty and knowledge range, and poor adaptability to social change. Limited training goals also hampered their individual and diversified development.
With the deepening of reform and opening up in recent years, many universities have been exploring new modes of student training. The main trends are: wider content range of specialties, greater emphasis on basic knowledge and comprehensive abilities, and especially practical ability in undergraduate education. Universities are encouraged to carry out inter-disciplinary education, so that science and art, and science and engineering can complement each other. More and more universities now allow students to change majors according to their interest and strong points, and to specialize in a minor as well as a major subject. The credit system or other forms of “elastic” teaching systems makes it possible for students to select courses within a certain range and, to a certain extent, to choose teachers of their preference and to decide the length of study time. Students can graduate as long as they have completed the required credits. These practices have created an environment where students have greater choice and autonomy for self-development.
Universities also lay greater stress on the integration of theoretical and practical teaching. Some large, research-oriented universities have gradually implemented a mode of advisory teaching, where an advisor provides academic guidance to a number of undergraduate students. For students, it is an explorative or inspirational learning mode, different from the traditional receptive learning mode. Teachers are better prepared to teach in the form of discussion and elicitation so as to inspire initiative and enthusiasm in their students. Senior undergraduate students in many universities participate in research projects headed by professors. These universities also have research funds for students. To cultivate the students' ability to apply book knowledge in analyzing and solving practical problems, universities implement a teaching mode that combines learning, research, and industry. Students are required to do internships in laboratories, factories, and enterprises. More and more undergraduate students derive their graduation theses from industrial production and social practice. Many universities have established career-launch funds for their graduates.
Post-secondary vocational and technical schools and junior colleges train students in accordance with job requirements. They issue two certificates to their graduates, one for academic credentials and the other for job qualifications. They also work out special teaching programs to meet the special demands of individual organizations. Their teaching is closely related to the relevant industries.
Strengthening teaching management
All universities have their own complete teaching plan, rigorous teaching procedures and quality control, on which scientific management is based. The teaching plan is the blueprint for training students according to expected goals and the basis for organizing teaching. The Higher Education Law vests the right to make teaching plans in the higher education institutions. While the state provides guidelines for training goals and specifications, universities set the requirements for teaching plans in similar terms. They will also take into consideration the academic system, overall time arrangement, curricular setup, internship, and their respective academic traditions and characteristics. Based on the university's requirements, its colleges (departments) make teaching plans for their respective specialties. In general, these plans must be approved by the academic committee of the university before implementation.
The basic unit of the teaching period is the academic year, which begins in early September and ends in mid-July the following year. The majority of universities divide the academic year into two semesters. Students study at school for forty to forty-two weeks and vacations last for ten to twelve weeks. They usually need to take twenty-four to thirty-two class hours per week, totaling 2,400–3,200 class hours in four academic years. Liberal arts schools have fewer class hours than schools of science.
The curricular setup usually consists of common required courses, foundation courses, specialized (technical) foundation courses, specialized courses, and selective courses. Common required courses include political theory, physical education, foreign language, and computer science. Teaching plans also set specific requirements for extra-classroom work, such as entrance orientation, internship, graduation thesis (or design), military training, and public service. The reform of teaching plans in recent years has placed greater weight on general-knowledge, foundation, inter-disciplinary, selective, and practical courses.
Universities pay close attention to quality management and control during the teaching process. Teaching and research offices often organize teaching discussions and preparations. Teachers are required to adopt high-quality textbooks and courseware. They should teach in a systematic, well-organized, and interactive manner, and use the elicitation method. They also need to advise students and answer their questions. Students must take examinations at the end of each course and those who fail must redo them. School leaders in charge of teaching often audit classes, and teachers also audit each other's classes. The dean's office is responsible for collecting various information, such as students' scores in mid-term and final examinations, competitions, and qualifying examinations for education at a higher level. It collects feedback on graduates through follow-up monitoring. The dean's office sets regulations for teaching inspection and organizes a committee of specialists for the purpose. The committee supervises the various teaching processes, such as classroom and laboratory teaching, internship, and graduation thesis or design. It also conducts comprehensive evaluation of teaching at different levels (such as departmental and specialty levels), and conducts comparative evaluation of individual teaching contents (such as course, textbook, laboratory, internship, graduation design or thesis). Universities also accept evaluation by their superior departments as an impetus to improve the quality of teaching.
Macro policies on teaching quality
The government has been effective in providing macro policy guidance and setting certain conditions to ensure the quality of teaching in higher education institutions.
In 1994, the Ministry of Education implemented the Plan for Teaching Content and Curriculum Reform in Higher Education for the 21st Century. The goal was to explore the law relating to the cultivation of talent and to essentially raise the quality of talent cultivation through various research projects. The state and universities pooled nearly 10 million yuan for relevant projects. With character education as the key, an extensive range of courses and curricula was established to meet the need of the times and in accordance with the characteristics of different universities. More than 1,000 high-quality “textbooks for the 21st century” were published and 100,000 teachers received training. The Plan achieved its expected goals.
In 2000, the Ministry of Education started the New-Century Teaching Reform Project in Higher Education Institutions. The Project focused on training students in creative spirit, practical abilities, and entrepreneurship. It emphasized the integrity, comprehensiveness, and practicality of teaching reform, which involved the mode of student training, teaching content and methodology, curricula, etc.
In 2001, the Ministry of Education published the Proposals on Strengthening Undergraduate Teaching and Improving the Quality of Student Training in Higher Education Institutions. The Proposals set rigorous requirements for twelve aspects of teaching, such as funding, evaluation, the use of good textbooks, and famous teachers to teach basic courses to undergraduate students.
The Project on Teaching Quality and Teaching Reform in Institutions of Higher Education, which started in 2003, emphasized quality as the core element. The Project further reformed the mode of student training, curricula, teaching content, and teaching methodology. It improved the teaching of basic courses and promoted the establishment of premium courses. Laboratories for the teaching of basic courses were renovated and replenished. The CALIS (China Academic Library & Information System) and a national network for sharing equipment and quality resources among universities went through further construction. Famous teachers were encouraged to teach basic courses, and more teachers were cited as famous teachers through evaluation. A number of pilot teaching bases and basic-course experimental teaching centers were set up to strengthen the practical process of teaching, such as industrial internship and graduation design. Universities were required to hire more experts with practical experience to teach applied disciplines, either full-time or part-time. The teaching of English as a common required course was reformed to improve the students' comprehensive language ability. The reform of higher medical education was carried out mainly in its management and academic systems in order to raise the quality of teaching and the level of medical graduates. The construction of various teaching bases was further strengthened so as to ensure a steady supply of well-developed researchers, teachers, and graduate students in basic sciences. The Project provided an assurance as to the quality of teaching in the basic disciplines and courses in order to turn out high-level multi-talented graduates with practical abilities.
In 1989, the Ministry of Education established the Award for Achievement in Higher Education Teaching. In March 1994, the State Council published the Regulations on Award for Achievement in Higher Education Teaching. Candidates for the award were to be selected every four years. The Award for Achievement in Higher Education Teaching has since become the highest state award of its kind. Its status is equal to the three major state awards for achievements in science and technology (i.e., the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the National Natural Science Award, and the State Technological Invention Award). Since 1989, the Ministry of Education has organized four sessions of evaluation and issued the award for 1,718 teaching achievements.
The Award for Excellence in Teaching for Famous University Teachers was established in 2003. It is a government award issued every three years to 100 candidates. The Ministry of Education convened the First Citation Conference for the 100 award winners in September 2003.
The Ministry of Education has also adopted a series of important reform measures to improve the quality of graduate education. The first measure is to subsidize outstanding doctoral students in research and innovation. The ministry provides financial and policy support to doctoral students doing original academic research with great potential to influence the development of relevant disciplines, and to those doing innovative engineering or technological research with great potential for application. The second measure is to publicize outstanding degree theses. The Ministry of Education selects 100 outstanding doctoral dissertations every year, presenting awards to the authors and their advisors. At the same time, the ministry arranges for experts to conduct random examination of doctoral dissertations on an annual basis. Institutions found awarding degrees to low-quality dissertations will be dealt with accordingly. The ministry also provides funding to provincial administrative departments of academic degrees to select and award outstanding master theses and doctoral dissertations, and to conduct random inspections on relevant work. Institutions entitled to issue various degrees are required to establish their own evaluation and award system for outstanding graduates and their advisors. The third measure is to establish and improve the various quality evaluation criteria and information systems, to ensure the credibility of such evaluation.
STRENGTHENING CHARACTER EDUCATION IN UNIVERSITIES
The essential task of China's higher education is to train a large number of specialists of all kinds and levels, and to promote the students' all-round, healthy and balanced development, and self-motivation through character education. For a long time in the past, higher education tended to place too much emphasis on specialized study to the neglect of overall character development, and on science and technology to the neglect of the arts and humanities. Since the 1990s, universities have been exploring character education in both theory and practice.
Strengthening arts and humanities education
Universities began to strengthen education in the arts and humanities for science students in 1994, initiated by the then Huazhong University of Technology (now the Huazhong University of Science and Technology) and a few other universities of its kind. In 1995, the Ministry of Education formally required that universities strengthen education in the arts and humanities for science and engineering students, and science education for the arts and humanities students. The purpose was to change the situation where students were limited to their respective specialties, and to improve their qualifications in all fields, such as literature, history, philosophy, arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. The ministry selected fifty-two universities to run the pilot programs.
In 1998, the Ministry of Education issued proposals on strengthening education in both humanities and natural sciences for college students, and established an advisory committee of well-known experts and professors. With the participation of fifty-odd universities, thirty-two state-level bases for such education were set up.
Efforts in this respect in the past ten years have been quite effective: education in both humanities and natural sciences represents a breakthrough in the mode of education. It has led to the re-conceptualization of talent cultivation. Due attention should be paid to the development of comprehensive abilities and character, as well as the imparting of knowledge. More people have come to see the necessity of integrating humanities and natural sciences in education. Cross-disciplinary education is now carried out both in the classroom and through various extra-curricular activities. Science students are required to take certain credits from liberal arts courses, and liberal arts students are required to take certain credits from science courses. All students are encouraged to take part in various social practices to extend their vision beyond campus.
Reform in the teaching of English and experimenting with bilingual teaching in colleges
The Ministry of Education and the universities have always attached great importance to the teaching of English to enable students to
communicate in the language and develop a global vision. However, there is still much to be desired in this respect, with the overall result falling short of the time and energy spent. To address the problem, the ministry has proposed three reforms in the teaching of English in colleges.
First, the Ministry of Education has set new basic requirements for teaching English, with practicality and the students' comprehensive ability to use the language as the guideline. According to the new requirements, the teaching of English should shift its focus on reading to comprehension, and the traditional curriculum should be reformed to give universities more autonomy and space for development.
The second proposal is to establish a campus-based English teaching network. The traditional teaching mode of a blackboard, a piece of chalk, and a textbook should be replaced by modern education technology to improve the students' self-learning ability.
The third proposal is to develop a new evaluation system to assess the teaching of English in colleges at different levels, from different angles, and during different processes. For example, evaluation should take into account the students' learning process as well as their final examination. The teachers' work should be evaluated with reference to the students' progress. The Band Four and Band Six college English tests should also be further reformed to help students improve their ability to use the language.
The Ministry of Education raised the requirement for bilingual teaching in 2001. It was intended to actively promote the use of English and some other foreign languages in teaching common required courses and specialty courses to undergraduate students. The teaching of such disciplines as bio-technology, information technology, finance, and law was expected to take the lead. Specifically, 5–10% of the courses in these disciplines should be taught in a foreign language within three years. Universities and departments that did not have the necessary conditions could start by adopting foreign-language textbooks but teaching in Chinese before teaching fully in a foreign language.
To prepare for bilingual teaching, the government began, in 2001, to send teachers of basic courses to the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to receive English and subject-based training. At the same time, it also increased the import of original textbooks in English, including those in computer science, biology, medicine, finance, trade, management, and law. As at 2004, large numbers of original textbooks in English have been introduced into China by both the university presses and other commercial publishing houses. The number of titles of computer textbooks alone has surpassed 1,400.
Career-launch education
Career-launch education and practice, which began by the end of the 20th century, was meant to help college students develop an innovative spirit and entrepreneurship. Through such education, they would be better prepared, upon graduation, to find jobs or to start their own business and create more jobs in doing so. Career-launch education has gone through two stages of development.
Stage 1. Depending on their respective conditions, universities organized all sorts of practical activities to train students in entrepreneurship. Tsinghua University, for example, organized various career-planning competitions. Students took part in a variety of extracurricular academic and technological innovations to practice their entrepreneurship. Fudan University included relevant education in its teaching plan and established a special fund to provide support and guidance for students who decided to launch their own business.
Stage 2. In April 2002, the Ministry of Education selected nine universities of different levels and types and from different regions to pilot the launch of formal career-launch education. The purpose was to accumulate experience for such education to be carried out in all universities across the country.
While the rationale for career-launch education in universities is just taking shape, relevant practices have become quite popular. These practices take place in three major modes.
The first mode aims to improve the students' career-launch ability. In this mode, career-launch education is an integral part of character education. The “innovative cycle” developed by Tsinghua University is such an example (Figure 3.3). Students are the main players in this cycle, which represents a virtual cycle from innovative awareness through innovative practice to innovative achievement.
The second mode stresses education in career-launch knowledge and skills. Universities may set up a profit-making career-launch park to provide students with financial assistance and relevant consultation. For example, the Beijing Aviation and Astronautics University has set up a Career-Launch Management Training School. It engages in both research and practice, and takes care of relevant affairs. The university has also established a 3-million-yuan entrepreneurship foundation, providing financial support for students' business plans that have passed evaluation.
The third mode is a comprehensive one. In this mode, career-launch education is conducted along with specialty-based education, mainly to nurture students' innovative spirit and entrepreneurship. In addition, the university provides students who plan to start their own businesses with necessary funding and technical consultation. The Shanghai Jiaotong University, for example, has set up several experimental centers and innovation bases costing more than 80 million yuan. Open all day to all students, they provide ideal conditions for students to practice their innovative and entrepreneurial skills. The university has set up a scientific and technological innovation center to provide guidance, consultation, and evaluation for career-launch and innovation activities. It also organizes entrepreneurship competitions and creates favorable conditions for the translation of students' career-launch achievements into industrial practice.
ADJUSTMENT OF CURRICULA AND DEVELOPMENT OF STATE-LEVEL PREMIUM COURSES
As the core of student training and organization of teaching, curricular development has always received due attention from the Ministry of Education and the universities themselves. A new round of efforts has been made since the mid-1990s to strengthen curricular adjustment and development. New plans and projects have been implemented to improve the quality of courses.
Adjustment and optimization of curricula
In 1997, the Ministry of Education began to revise the Catalog of Undergraduate Academic Disciplines. The guideline was to expand the content range of specialties, strengthen the adaptability of specialties and graduates, and adjust the variety and number of specialties. The work took more than a year and the revised Catalog had 51% fewer specialties (a decrease from 504 to 249). The adjustment, unprecedented in both width and depth, changed the situation of narrow specialties in higher education institutions. The new Catalog represented the need in higher education for solid basics and a wide range of knowledge and comprehensive abilities in training students, and gave a tremendous impetus to character education.
In accordance with the new Catalog, universities started the largest ever revision of their teaching plans, and adjustment and optimization of curricula. The goal was to solidify the concept and practice of character education through specific courses. The main contents of curricular reform were: strengthening basic courses and “general-knowledge education;” increasing the flexibility of courses, with fewer required courses and more elective ones; emphasizing practical, experimental, and social courses; stressing research in teaching and learning, and creative education (with some universities taking into account students' individual wishes when designing courses); and emphasizing cross-disciplinary education of natural sciences and liberal arts.
Project for Building State-Level Premium Courses
The Project for Building State-Level Premium Courses started in 2003 and 1,500 state-level premium courses are expected to be established within five years (2003–2007), by using modern information technology. The contents will be accessible by all universities across the country, free of charge. The Project is meant to promote development of premium courses in all higher education institutions so as to form a network of premium courses spanning university, provincial, and state levels. Such a network will make it possible for all universities to share high-quality teaching resources and to improve the overall quality of education and teaching. The establishment of state-level premium courses shows the way for universities to cultivate well-qualified specialists to meet the needs of both national and regional development. Through the process, universities can consolidate achievements of various teaching reforms, make more use of information technology in teaching, integrate research and teaching more closely, and provide more funding for teaching. The Project will ensure better quality of higher education as it grows.
The development of state-level premium courses covers six areas.
First, to build up a contingent of teachers. Headed by professors who work as leading lecturers, it should consist of high-caliber teachers from different academic levels and age groups. The members should be able to stay stable in their position.
Second, to develop teaching content. This should represent the latest achievements in different fields.
Third, to develop advanced pedagogy and teaching methods. Relevant curricula, teaching plans, exercises, experimental instructions, and references should be available online, free of charge, for the purpose of sharing high-quality resources.
Fourth, to compile textbooks. This should represent the basic requirements and cutting-edge development of relevant disciplines.
Fifth, to reform experimental courses in both form and content. The stress will be on comprehensiveness, innovation, and research.
Sixth, to establish a new motivation and evaluation mechanism.
After passing rigorous examination, 151 courses were listed as “state-level premium courses in 2003,” of which 127 were undergraduate courses, and twenty-four were post-secondary vocational and technical courses.
Reform and innovation of graduate education
With the continuous growth of higher education, graduate education has entered a new phase. The main task faced by the Ministry of Education and universities is how to cultivate a large number of high-caliber, innovative talent. In the Action Plan for Rejuvenating Education 2003-2007, the ministry selected 100 or so disciplines for making pilot graduate education plans. Experts in the relevant fields were recruited to do comparative study and analysis of the graduate training plans of representative Chinese and foreign universities. After thoroughly revising the existing graduate education plans in various respects, such as training goals and modes, setup of courses, content and requirement of teaching, and criteria for degrees, the experts have come up with exemplary graduate education plans for about 100 disciplines. The ministry then organized graduate advisors and other relevant persons to discuss the implementation of the pilot plans for a better understanding of their essentials.
In the meanwhile, the Ministry of Education is stepping up construction of a system for sharing high-quality graduate education resources. It consists of several parts. The first is the compilation of graduate textbooks. The authors should be famous experts and scholars in some basic and general disciplines; the textbooks should feature systematic and new content, and a high academic level. Advanced textbooks from foreign countries should be imported in an organized manner and recommended to universities throughout China. The second part is the establishment of “inter-university grant for graduate students.” Different graduate schools and their respective key disciplines should share their resources and complement one another. The Ministry of Education will set quotas, arrange advisors, and provide relevant conditions for inter-university graduate (mainly doctoral) education. The third is to open graduate summer schools. During the summer vacation, academically acclaimed professors and experts from China and abroad will be invited to teach a number of graduate courses of a certain discipline. These courses should focus on the newest research achievements and frontier development of the discipline in concern, or on the training of basic research abilities. The summer schools will enroll graduate students and young teachers from across the country. After they have completed the study and passed the examinations, the results will count towards their credits in their respective graduate schools.
BASES FOR CULTIVATING TALENT
Bases for cultivating talent in basic disciplines
These bases cover natural sciences, liberal arts, economics, and uncommonly used foreign languages. In 1991, the Ministry of Education set up eighty-four state-level science bases in thirty-five comprehensive, and science and technology universities. These bases concentrated on such basic disciplines as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. In 1995, the ministry established fifty-one liberal arts bases in thirty-one universities, which included such fields of study as Chinese language and literature, history, and philosophy. In 1998, the ministry set up thirteen state-level bases for study in economics in thirteen universities. By carrying out major national pilot teaching and research projects, these bases have established a large number of brand-name courses that have exerted a favorable, exemplary influence on related disciplines. They have also promoted the overall improvement of talent training in the basic sciences.
Bases for the teaching of basic courses
In 1996, the Ministry of Education established forty-five state-level bases in thirty-one universities for the teaching of mathematics, physics, chemistry, mechanics, basic machinery, engineering drawing, electrical engineering, and electronics. These bases are part of the “state-level bases for the teaching of basic courses in engineering” project still under development. Their main task is to deepen reform of the content, curricula, and teaching methods of relevant disciplines. Through reform they should bring forth new education systems and compile corresponding textbooks. The procedures for establishing such bases are: application on the part of universities, evaluation by experts, and approval by the Ministry of Education. Funds for these bases come from the universities where these bases are located and their superior administrative department. The Ministry of Education checks on these bases every four years to make sure their work is of good quality.
Teaching bases oriented towards strategic industries
These include state-level bases for the training of specialists in integrated circuits (IC), life sciences, and software. In 2002, the Ministry of Education and the State Planning Commission established state-level bases for the training of specialists in life sciences and technology in thirty-seven universities. By combining teaching, research, and industry, these bases play an exemplary role in training multi-talented personnel who are good at relevant theories and practical skills, and business initiative and management as well. In 2003, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology decided to set up IC training bases in nine universities to meet the need of the country's strategic economic restructuring and promotion of new industries. After three to five years' effort, they are expected to turn out 1,000 IC designers and 300 technicians annually. Some of them should be of high international level. In the process, these bases should explore and form new education modes and management mechanisms in the training of high-tech personnel.
Speeding up the development of the software industry is a pressing and long-term task faced by the government. In 2001, the Ministry of Education decided to set up pilot software colleges in thirty-five key universities, including Tsinghua. Concentrating on education in software development, these colleges enroll undergraduate and graduate students in software engineering, and second-bachelor-degree students in various software majors. The pilot colleges are required to break away from the traditional modes of running a school. They should cooperate with local universities, foreign universities, or foreign software enterprises or companies. They should also cooperate with famous foreign software enterprises and companies to establish internship bases for senior students. By participating in software development when still at school, the students will be able to learn about the software industry and market worldwide. The experience will lay a good foundation for their future career.
The pilot software colleges currently have more than 30,000 students and have turned out nearly 1,900 graduates, who have won high recognition from employers for their practical abilities to which their training was tailored.
In November 2003, the Ministry of Education began to set up software vocational and technical colleges. The purpose was to raise the country's software research, development, and production capacities to or close to an advanced international level in 2010, to readjust the structure of software specialists, and to train large numbers of basic programmers. Thirty-five colleges were chosen as the first batch, including the Beijing Information Vocational and Technical College. After three to five years' effort, these colleges should be able to build up a contingent of high-caliber teachers at different academic levels. They should also be able to have necessary practice bases that are close to advanced international levels.
Moreover, by the time, these colleges should have trained some 200,000 silver-collar software specialists.
Arts and humanities education bases
In 1995, the Ministry of Education set up arts and humanities education bases in fifty-three higher education institutions. The background was that students were limited to their specialties and their education in the arts and humanities was relatively weak. The goal was to raise the overall qualifications of college students by strengthening their education in literature, history, philosophy, arts, as well as natural sciences. These bases engage in in-depth research on character education and have established practical education modes. They have exerted an important influence on higher education as a whole.
State-level practical teaching and social practice bases
Practical teaching and social practice are important links in the chain of training high-quality specialists. They are also the key to cultivating the students' comprehensive qualifications and innovative spirit. In 2001, the Ministry of Education established two “state-level practical teaching and social practice bases,” one at the China Three Gorges Project Corporation and the other at the China First Auto Works Group Corporation. The two bases have since accumulated some successful experience and formed a set of scientific, standard methods for operation and management.
In 2004, the central government allocated special funds to award or subsidize the establishment of practical training bases in different parts of the country. These bases focus respectively on digital control technology, automobile maintenance and repair, applied computer and software technology, electric and electronics technology, and architectural technology. These bases are shared among universities offering relevant specialties.
In general, state-level practical teaching and social practice bases come in two types. One includes those established at large or super-large state-owned enterprises with advanced technology, scientific management, a good corporate culture, and a tradition of supporting college-student internship. The other type includes skills training bases for post-secondary vocational education, which are headed by local educational departments and jointly funded by the state, local governments, the relevant industries, and schools. In the coming years, the state will set up tens of bases for practical teaching and social practice bases and a large group of skills training bases.
ASSURANCE OF TEACHING CONDITIONS
Development of textbooks
Development of textbooks is one of the important measures to deepen reform of education and teaching, and to raise the quality of teaching. Since 1978, the Ministry of Education has made five plans on the development of textbooks and organized the publication of 30,000-plus textbooks for higher education institutions. These books enriched the variety of textbooks, and helped improve the quality of teaching and stabilize teaching order. At present, specific measures for higher education institutions to develop textbooks include:
First, the making of development plans to publish textbooks featuring reform. This was made clear in the Ministry of Education's Plan for Teaching Content and Curriculum Reform in Higher Education for the 21st Century, and its textbook plans during the Ninth and Tenth Five-Year Plan periods. By the end of 2003, more than 1,500 key textbooks and those under the imprint of “textbooks for the 21st century” had been published. They were new in content, system, and methodology. The new textbooks emphasized the use of a multimedia and computer-aided teaching system. Many projects for the development of 21st-century textbooks include research and development of teaching software. Quite a few of them have achieved good results.
Second, the introduction of good textbooks from elite universities abroad. By the end of 2003, the Ministry of Education had organized the licensing or reprinting of seventy-five textbooks in computer science and technology, and telecommunication, twenty-six in life sciences, and twenty-three in economics, management, and law.
Third, national awards for outstanding textbooks. In 2002, the Ministry of Education selected 509 textbooks from 2,221 titles submitted by 354 universities and 117 publishing houses, with 138 winning first prize and 371 winning second prize.
Fourth, a national network has been established to provide information on award-winning, outstanding, and premium textbooks, and to serve as a platform for universities and publishing houses to publish and exchange information.
Construction of libraries
As important resources for teaching and research, university libraries have undergone tremendous changes in recent years, with a large-scale increase of funds for purchasing books and other materials (Figure 3.5). Such funds were less than 500 million yuan in 1997 and increased to more than 1 billion in 2003.
The increase of funds has ensured that libraries can purchase more and better references for teaching and research. For example, university libraries across China subscribed to 7,000-odd foreign-language journals in 1996, less than 20% of the academic journals published worldwide that year. About forty universities each had more than 100 foreign-language journals, including Peking (1,098) and Tsinghua (611) Universities. In 2003, more than twenty universities each subscribed to more than 10,000 foreign-language journals (both printed and electronic), more than forty each subscribed to over 7,000, and 120 each subscribed to 600-plus such journals.
Chinese books and journals in electronic form are widely available in university libraries, as an integral complement to printed references. More than half of the libraries have over 300,000 electronic books and 6,000 electronic journals.
The physical conditions of university libraries have also improved in recent years. About one-third of universities have built new libraries or expanded existing ones to meet the needs of modern management and to better serve readers.
Apart from traditional manned services such as loaning, consulting, reader training, and information supply, university libraries now provide more and more services through the Internet. These include searching for items from book and journal catalogs of university libraries across the country; placing orders, sending return notices and extending loan time; reading and downloading books, journals, and other references online; domestic and international inter-library loan and transmission of documents; coordinated online information consultation; online self-service training on search methods and skills; guidance on online information resources. Such online services are gradually being provided twenty-four hours a day.
Construction of laboratories
With support from the government, higher education institutions have increased funding for the construction of laboratories, including
large amounts of advanced equipment. Recent years have seen the most rapid development of laboratories since the founding of New China (1949). According to relevant statistics in 2003, universities had 5.98 million sets of teaching and research instruments and equipment, with an original value of 52.8 billion yuan. The Ministry of Education has issued the Work Regulations for University Laboratories, setting the objectives for the construction of laboratories and requirements for their management. It has also mapped out the Evaluation Procedures and Criteria Charts for Basic-Course Teaching Laboratories in Higher Education Institutions, as a guideline for the evaluation of the laboratories concerned.
In recent years, universities have generally set up university-and department-level basic-course teaching laboratories. They have also expanded the scale and improved the efficiency of their laboratories. Funding for the construction of such laboratories amounted to 10.1 billion yuan in 2003 alone. Many universities have actively explored reform of the content and courses for teaching experimental procedures. They have adjusted the curricula to reduce verifying experiments, and to add comprehensive, designing, applied, and innovative ones. Such reform has helped improve the quality of teaching and provided better conditions for cultivating the students' innovative spirit. From 1996 to 2002, the total number of laboratory staff did not increase much, but their academic level and comprehensive qualifications improved a great deal.
MULTI-LEVEL TEACHING QUALITY EVALUATION SYSTEM
The objectives of teaching evaluation are: to promote construction of infrastructures, to promote teaching reform and management, and to establish a multi-level evaluation system. According to the Ministry of Education's Action Plan for Rejuvenating Education 2003–2007, universities should improve their teaching quality assurance system, and establish evaluation systems and consultation organizations. Nationwide evaluation of the quality of teaching in universities should be conducted every five years. Evaluation of the quality of teaching of different disciplines and specialties should be standardized, and an evaluation system should be gradually established that relates the quality of teaching with the certification of specialist qualifications and professional entry permit. The construction of a relevant information network should be stepped up, evaluation criteria should be established, and a system should be developed for the collection, analysis, and regular publication of teaching conditions.
Comprehensive and specialty-based evaluation organized by the government
The Higher Education Law requires that the government evaluate the teaching in higher education institutions. The work began in the mid-1980s, but did not have much effect until early 1995 when the evaluation of undergraduate teaching took place. The evaluation came in three types: evaluation for a passing level, evaluation for excellence, and random evaluation. The first type was applied to institutions that had a short history and a relatively weak foundation. The second
was applied to long-established institutions with a sound foundation and a high level of teaching. The third type was applied to those in between. By the end of 2002, the Ministry of Education had conducted evaluation of undergraduate teaching of 221 institutions, with 179 at a passing level, sixteen at an excellence level and twenty-six at a random level.
Based on the experience, the Ministry of Education issued the Evaluation Plan for Undergraduate Teaching Quality in Higher Education Institutions (Experimental) in 2002. Applicable to all common universities, the Evaluation Plan classified evaluation results into four categories: excellent, fine, pass, and fail. By the end of 2003, the ministry had evaluated seventy-five institutions. In 2003, the ministry established the evaluation plan for post-secondary vocational and technical schools, and conducted trial evaluation of twenty-six of these schools.
The Ministry of Education has published an evaluation plan for the first five-year cycle. It has organized a committee of evaluation experts, revised and improved evaluation criteria, collected and published basic data concerning undergraduate teaching, carried out large-scale training of evaluation experts, and has set up a special evaluation organization directly under the ministry.
The Ministry of Education is responsible for making evaluation plans, to be implemented by the secretariat of the committee of evaluation experts under the ministry. The evaluation takes place in three stages: self-evaluation, on-the-spot investigation by a group of experts, and rectification. During the first stage, the university concerned assesses its own quality of teaching in accordance with the criteria set by the state and prepares a written report. In the second stage, a group of experienced education management experts will stay in the university to audit classes, interview faculty and staff members and students, inspect the conditions with regard to the running of the school, check the students' graduation theses and examination papers, and hold discussions with the president about teaching. The group will then report in writing what they have observed to the university and its superior administrative department. After absorbing their feedback, the group will submit its evaluation conclusions and rating proposal to the Ministry of Education. During the third stage, the university follows the evaluation group's comments and suggestions to address its weak points and problems in teaching. The whole process lasts for a year (Figure 3.7).
Evaluation has effectively promoted reform and development of higher education teaching. According to the changes made to the 322 institutions that have gone through the evaluation, the main achievements are multi-faceted. The institutions concerned have increased funds for teaching; their teaching and research conditions and campus environment have improved markedly; and they have been motivated to establish their own teaching-quality control mechanism, which is especially useful for newly established institutions to improve their management. The evaluation has led to the change of some concepts of education, with teaching reform and quality receiving greater attention. The continual expansion and diversification of higher education provides new opportunities for and poses new challenges to evaluation work. It should aim for more scientific understanding of education quality, new standards for quality evaluation, new mechanisms to ensure quality, a more scientific and transparent evaluation system, more active and fair competition between institutions, and a motivation mechanism geared towards quality.
The Ministry of Education has carried out both comprehensive and specialty-based evaluation of teaching quality. The evaluation of undergraduate specialties is still at the experimental stage. So far, more than 150 specialties have gone through evaluation. They include architecture, urban planning, civil engineering, water supply and drainage engineering, architectural environment and equipment engineering, engineering management, seven-year medical education, and law.
Provincial education administrative departments also organize teaching evaluation. They assess the institutions under their administration either as a preparation for the Ministry of Education's evaluation or independently. It is common for provinces to conduct inspection and assessment of some teaching processes, such as experimental courses, basic courses, and graduation designs or theses. The work is important for institutions under the provincial administration to standardize school operations and to improve the quality of teaching.
Quality control and evaluation within higher education institutions
While the Ministry of Education has strengthened macro quality control and management, higher education institutions have established a two-tiered (institutional and departmental) quality management system, which involves the participation of experts, peers, and students. The participation of students in the evaluation of teaching has become quite common in recent years, and is becoming better organized and institutionalized. In general, every teacher should be evaluated by the students. The dean's office will distribute an evaluation table to students at the end of each course. Based on the students' evaluation, a teacher may be rated excellent, good, qualified, or unqualified. The dean's office will then report the rating and the students' comments to the individual teachers concerned, who are expected to improve their work by studying the results. Many universities use the students' evaluation as a criterion for award or penalty, for the accreditation of academic titles and pay raise, and for the hiring or firing of teachers. Besides student evaluation, teachers are required to audit and evaluate each other's classes. University and department leaders are also required to audit and evaluate classes.
Many universities have organized a teaching supervision team and have set up a quality evaluation and control center. The supervision team usually consists of veteran experts and professors and senior students. They often audit classes, participate in extracurricular activities, and inspect the students' studying process, homework, and graduation theses or design. The quality evaluation and control center often operates under the dean's office but may be an independent organization. It specializes in the evaluation of teaching and related matters. Universities often organize seminars to discuss issues on teaching and to exchange experience.
Before they take part in the teaching evaluation organized by the Ministry of Education, universities must make full preparation regarding various conditions and conduct regular self-evaluation. They should inspect and assess the teaching of each department/ school with reference to standard evaluation criteria, and raise suggestions for improvement. Schools or colleges of a university should also set up their own evaluation groups to assess the work of smaller teaching units, such as the various departments, centers, and teaching and research offices.
Public evaluation of higher education quality
While the Ministry of Education is the main evaluator, there are various forms of public evaluation of the quality of higher education. One is professional evaluation and certification. For example, the associations of architects, lawyers, and accountants all conduct qualification certification and evaluation of the corresponding specialties of higher education institutions. Public evaluation involves specialty entry permits for universities and as such provides the standards for the training of specialists in various fields. The evaluation by professional associations is developing in both width and depth. Universities also consciously apply such associations' standards to improve specialty-based education and welcome their certification.
In recent years, some social organizations have begun to conduct evaluation and rating of universities in terms of teaching, research, and service. Self-initiated, the work of these organizations, though at an early stage, has had great influence. The China Management Research Institute, Hunan University, Shanghai Education Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Management Research Institute, and netbig.com, an online pollster, collect information from various sources to assess and rate higher education institutions in terms of comprehensive strength, strength of its different specialties, and research capability. Although their evaluation system and rating are far from perfect and still have some problems, their work can indicate the quality of teaching of the relevant universities to a certain extent. They also play a positive role in making public the operation of these universities and in providing consultation services to students who are preparing for the national college entrance examinations. The government encourages non-government organizations to evaluate the work of universities and to make their work more scientific and positive.
The public can also help evaluate higher education by reporting to the government, the media, or the university itself what goes on in the university or their evaluation of the teaching quality in the university. Enterprises and government institutions usually evaluate the work of universities through their observation of the graduates they have employed, and provide feedback to the universities. Every year universities will consult employers on the performance of their graduates and accordingly readjust their training goals and modes, and curricula.