Summary

China’s Ministry of Education, along with seven other government departments, has recently released new guidelines on education internationalisation to domestic education institutions and government departments. The document – titled Opinions on Accelerating and Scaling Up Education Opening-up in the New Era – reiterates the Ministry’s commitment to reforming transnational education regulations and administrative systems; sets out intentions for delegating more authority over leading universities’ overseas cooperation; and continues reforms related to various forms of educational mobility including Chinese students going abroad and overseas students and academics coming to China.

The Opinions sets out plans for advancing the education opening-up at various levels:

• In the higher education sector, “Double First-Class” HEIs will be granted certain approval authorities relating to their foreign affairs, and management approach for approval policies will be explored according to the nature of different HEIs international activities, including international conferences. 
• In the vocational education sector, MOE will look to develop high-profile competitions such as the “Belt and Road” International Skills Competition and implement the overseas training plan targeting VEIs’ teaching faculties and their teaching innovation teams.
• In the basic education sector, the education of international understanding will be strengthened across elementary and primary schools.

In the area of transnational education, the Opinions discuss plans to promote further TNE reforms from three angles:

• To improve the regulatory system by moving forward with the amendment of the Regulations on Chinese Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools and its Implementation Measures
• To improve and streamline joint programme approval at the degree level and above, exploring options such as delegating approval to the provincial level or joint review and approval between the Ministry of Education and certain provincial education bureaus/departments.
• To encourage pilot projects exploring the possibility of relaxing the restrictions on TNE providers and models.

The Opinions also discuss steps to improve the influence of the “Study in China” brand through implementing a number of measures to enhance high-quality higher education quality for international students, mainly focusing enhancing quality standards and strengthening quality assurance as well as capacity building for teaching and management staff. Meanwhile, Chinese HEIs should also be supported to further develop their overseas cooperation activities, including expanding the overseas reach of China’s online education provision.

According to the Opinions, the Ministry of Education will continue to provide particular support to education development and internationalisation in four priority areas: Hainan province, Xiong’an New Zone in Hebei province (close to Beijing), the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Regional Integration in the Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai and the surrounding region). Education reform will also be integrated with the Belt and Road initiative, supporting it through training and technological development.

While the full text of the Opinions has not been released to the public, the British Council has translated the article published by the Ministry of Education as an overview of the new Opinions. Links to the unofficial translations can be found below.

Analysis

The Opinions confirm that reform of transnational education (TNE) regulations is still a priority for the Ministry of Education, and suggest that this reform may involve more flexibility in programme approval with no compromise on demand on quality. This would be a welcome development for UK-China education cooperation as requirements for new joint programmes can often be hard for overseas HEIs to meet. It is important also to note that a period of ‘relaxation’ might reverse into further tightening if the Chinese authorities view that there are compromises to strategic directions and quality on offer of TNE in China.

Another area where the Opinions aim to add more flexibility is in management of domestic universities’ overseas activities. The Ministry of education delegated approval rights for some overseas cooperation activities to all 75 Ministerial-level universities last year, and the new policy confirms that it will further expand this to leading provincial-level universities that are part of the World Class Universities & Disciplines project. This change will help to reduce some of the delays and complicated procedures that the government approval process created for international cooperation projects. The support for internationalisation of vocational education may also create opportunities for cooperation in this field.

Finally, the Opinions re-confirm the importance the Ministry places on developing China’s prominence in the global international education market, both as a physical destination country and also as a provider of distance and transnational education. While the British Council’s experience shows that China and the UK mostly attract different groups of international students at present, this may have an effect on demand for UK education over the longer term.

Sources

1. Chinese Ministry of Education’s announcement of the new Opinions (in Chinese): http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/202006/t20200617_466544.html
2. People’s Daily – Q&A with the Ministry of Education on the Opinions (in Chinese): http://edu.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0618/c1006-31752128.html
3. British Council International Education Services - Chinese Ministry of Education delegates more autonomy to 49 universities on external exchanges and outward visits (December 2019): http://education-services.britishcouncil.org/news/market-news/chinese-ministry-of-education-delegates-more-autonomy-49-universities-external

Attachment

1. Chinese Ministry of Education’s announcement of the new Opinions (in English – translated by British Council): click to download