China Development Brief - Education

‘Rustification’ revival to create jobs, reverse brain drain

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:19:06 +0100

In an ambitious drive to increase access to higher education, China’s college and university enrolment increased from around six million in 1998 to 21 million in 2005. But with the flood of new graduates, individuals are having a tough time finding jobs in an increasingly competitive labour market. Li Mu (李沐) reports on government interventions designed to alleviate graduate unemployment by encouraging young job seekers to "Go west, go down to where motherland and people are in greatest need."

NGO report damns campus health, disability discrimination

Wed, 23 May 2007 06:41:28 +0100

Discrimination against students with medical conditions is rife in Chinese colleges and universities despite being formally prohibited by China’s Constitution and various related laws, according to a report published by three NGOs.

PLAN tackles new educational frontier with rural pre-school programme

Wed, 23 May 2007 06:40:42 +0100

Child-focused international development agency, Plan, will in May start rolling out a training programme for pre-school teachers in ten counties of Shaanxi Province in a bid to support local government efforts in what is becoming a new frontier for rural education.

Campaign to eradicate illiteracy flagging, officials acknowledge

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:33:45 +0100

China’s total illiteracy rate rose slightly in 2005, and the country will miss its targets for eradicating illiteracy unless greater efforts and resources are deployed to tackle the issue, government officials and researchers say.

Hong Kong charity redirects support “upstream” to secondary education

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:26:53 +0000

Hong Kong charity, Sowers Action (苗圃行动), established fifteen years ago to support education on China’s mainland and currently mobilising around CNY 19 million (USD 2.4 million) per year for primary schooling, is deliberating a shift towards vocational education, according to Herman To (杜勇声), a founding member and current Deputy Chair of the organisation.

Rural education: subsidies provide palliative, but not panacea

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 04:25:52 +0100

Throughout the “reform and opening” era, China has struggled to universalise primary education and, as it nears that goal, the government is raising expenditure to remove financial barriers for the poorest families. But, as Chang Tianle (常天乐) reports, remaining challenges are not all financial.

From the front line: Change comes from practice, not preaching

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:13:12 +0100

Quality projects with local ownership are the most effective means of pursuing advocacy objectives in China argues Zhao Zhonghua (赵中华) of Save the Children, citing the experience of an education project that, he says, has had demonstrable impact on government policy and practice.

Mercy Corps and ethnic Yi NGO tackle minority women’s skills deficit

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 20:28:13 +0100

International development NGO, Mercy Corps, is partnering with a local organisation established last year in Sichuan Province’s Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in a new initiative to improve life skills and livelihood opportunities for teenage, ethnic minority girls who have grown up in an area ravaged by poverty, drug use and AIDS.

Leading state adviser offers frank assessment of rural challenges

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:32:11 +0100

Not just the so-called “three problems of agriculture” (三农) but as many as seven rural conundrums are explored candidly by a senior government researcher in a report that summarises the findings of recent fieldwork and is published in a new, English language magazine, China Economist.

Seven Issues Directly Affecting Farmers’ Interests is written by the Director of the State Council Development Research Centre’s Rural Economy Department, Han Jun (韩俊), who pulls few punches during a frank discussion of education and health financing, land requisition, rural infrastructure, migration, farm credit, and farmers’ lack of bargaining power.

Education in limbo between state and market

Sat, 03 Jun 2006 01:56:31 +0100

Although universal access to primary schooling is, according to the government, now close to being “basically achieved,” the future fate of China’s education system is by no means certain. Reflecting here on the present and future challenges are three education experts, Wang Xiaohui (王晓辉) , Hu Wenbin (胡文斌) and Gerard Postiglione (See end of article for contributor bios.)

Education “like shopping for clothes” says Ministry spokesperson

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:35:44 +0100

An official spokesman’s stout defense of rising inequality in educational opportunity “has triggered a wide and fierce debate in society” according to the English language magazine, Beijing Review.

“It is natural that not everyone can afford excellent education resources. It is like shopping for clothing. A well-off man can go to a brand-name store to buy a 10,000 yuan suit, while a poor person can buy a 100 yuan suit from a vendor,” the state-run news magazine quotes Ministry of Education spokesperson, Wang Xuming, as saying in March.

Degree course boosts mainland Gender Studies

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 21:52:16 +0100

The China Women’s University, located in Beijing, has announced that it has secured Ministry of Education approval to admit undergraduates majoring in Women’s Studies this Autumn, becoming China’s first institution to offer a Bachelors degree in the subject.

China contributes USD 1 million to UNESCO efforts in Africa

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 06:36:56 +0000

A five-point education assistance package to developing countries, including a USD 1 million grant to UNESCO to support research and training in Africa, was announced by Premier Wen Jiabao at a high-level consultation meeting of the UNESCO-led ‘Education for All’ campaign held in Beijing at the end of November.

Save the Children scales up child-centred education for ethnic minorities

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 04:34:05 +0000

The European Commission has approved grants totaling EUR 1.25 million to enable Save the Children UK to replicate a Yunnan Minorities Basic Education Project in a further 70 counties of that province and to begin similar work in Xinjiang.

ICRC establishes presence in Beijing

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 10:55:42 +0100

After years of negotiation, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Geneva-based humanitarian organisation mandated by the international community to ensure humanitarian protection and assistance to victims of war, has established an in-country presence in China."