Summary:

China’s General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council have recently released a document entitled Guidelines on Works in Opening Up the Education Sector in the New Era. The policy sets out goals in six key areas related to education internationalisation and overseas cooperation, with the broad aim of improving education quality and enhancing internationalisation. It covers the period to 2020, in line with the current Five Year Plan. The main priorities set out in the policy are as follows:

1. Speeding up the development of the international study sector and improving the quality of international education provision:

• regulating the market of overseas study services (agents) and improving administrative systems and services for Chinese students studying abroad
• developing the “Study in China” brand, improving the quality of key disciplines and courses at top universities, and establishing professional service platforms for international students’ learning experience in China
• cultivating talents in five fields: outstanding innovative individuals, speakers of less-common languages, specialists for international organisations, research on particular countries and regions, and top visiting scholars

2. Improving systems for Transnational Education and raising its quality:

• optimising the criteria for establishing new Transnational Education programmes and institutes, reforming systems for both programme approval and withdrawal, conducting evaluations and accreditations, strengthening transparent information sharing, establishing sharing channels for best practices, and developing disciplines of science and engineering that are urgently needed for national development
• encouraging higher education institutions and vocational colleges to “go global” in partnership with enterprises, motivating social investment in operating educational programmes/institutions abroad

3. Strengthening top quality education and enhancing capacity in education and innovation:

• strengthening the development of both world-class disciplines and disciplines in which China is weaker, learning from the management experience of prestigious international universities
• encouraging higher education institutions to participate in major international science programmes and projects, building up a group of high-profile international labs and research centres
• selecting and sending outstanding young academics and academic leaders of higher education institutions abroad for academic visits and exchanges
• speeding up the introduction of teaching staff from global institutions to China, improving the professional standardisation system of teachers/lecturers, and moving forward the accreditation of foreign teaching staff’s qualifications

4. Diversifying people-to-people dialogues and promoting understanding between people in China and overseas:

• integrating and bridging the high-level governmental consultation mechanisms on education, pragmatic cooperation between professional education practitioners, as well as friendly exchanges among teachers and students
• strengthening mutual support in the course of promoting the Chinese language abroad and the study of less-common languages in China, including developing exchange courses with an increasing number of countries
• enhancing the patriotism of Chinese students overseas, and leveraging the promotional impact of international students and foreign teachers in China

5. Promoting win-win education cooperation:

• strengthening cooperation with international organisations, promoting the development of university alliances, and enhancing in-depth educational cooperation between sister cities and institutions
• recommending talented individuals for positions in international organisations
• improving education cooperation mechanisms with other BRIC countries
• strengthening support for developing countries, especially the least developed countries, by speeding up the construction of international education and training centres and overseas educational aid hubs

6. Implementing education-related “One Belt One Road” and promoting educational cooperation among countries along the route:

• strengthening joint training and the development of talents matching the demands of countries along the route
• setting up the “Silk Road” Chinese Government Scholarship scheme to sponsor 10,000 new students per annum from countries along the route to study or research in China

In addition to setting out these six key goals, the emphasises the importance of governance in opening up the education sector, again with several main priorities:

• shape the landscape of education opening-up, giving full play of the important role of education in the “One Belt One Road” initiative, supporting the development of world-class education in East China, expanding the scale of internationalisation in central and Western China, and supporting border regions in leveraging their geographic advantages to improve education cooperation and exchanges with neighbouring countries
• improving quality assurance in pushing forward bilateral and multilateral recognition of qualifications and degrees within the Asia-Pacific region, supporting UNESCO for global recognition of degrees, developing vocational education courses benchmarked with leading international standards and closely connected with the “Made in China 2025” strategy, and proactively participating in international assessment and testing of students
• strengthening theoretical support by supporting research at universities and research institutes related to international issues and opening-up strategies, and strengthening cooperation between universities and think tanks
• reinforcing monitoring and management, with a comprehensive regulation system and coordinated monitoring, especially in the overseas study agent sector with the aim of developing a healthy and orderly overseas study market

Analysis:

The guidelines can be viewed as a policy guideline for international cooperation and exchange activities between China and foreign countries. This makes the policy a valuable resource in terms of understanding the country’s priorities in the field of international education cooperation over the current five-year plan period, although it does not set specific timelines for any of the policies or reforms discussed above. Several areas of the policy are particularly relevant to UK institutions:

• Reforms of the procedures and requirements for setting up TNE programmes and institutes, as well as evaluation, accreditation and exit/withdrawal mechanisms, will likely make these procedures and requirements clearer and therefore be a positive development for UK institutions interested in joint provision in China. However, it should be noted that the current guidelines provide no details of what form these reforms may take or when they might be introduced.
• The policy clearly points towards closer regulation of agents and related activities, meaning that UK HEIs should be careful in their engagement with agents in China.
• Support for international collaborative laboratories and research centres will create more opportunities for UK institutions to engage in joint scientific research projects with Chinese partners.
• The promotion of standardisation of professional qualifications in vocational education may provide room for input based on the experience of the UK professional qualifications/degree system

Source:

1. http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-04/29/c_1118775049.htm