Can China's Plans To Build World-Class Universities Succeed?

Can China’s plans to build world-class universities succeed while the Communist Party maintains a tight grip on political and intellectual freedoms?

- Ananth Krishnan

On September 10 last year, some of China’s top educators came together at the sprawling Tsinghua University campus in northwest Beijing. The occasion was the launch of an ambitious initiative, the latest in China’s drive to build the ‘Ivy League of the East’—world-class universities that would attract top foreign minds and perhaps, more importantly, stem the flow of Chinese talent to the West, a problem that has, as in India, plagued the nation’s research institutions.

At the centre of this drive is Tsinghua University, China’s top-ranked educational institution, and the alma mater of current president Xi Jinping, as also of his predecessor, Hu Jintao. Last September, Tsing hua unveiled a $400 million scholarship programme, modelled on Oxford University’s Rhodes scholarships. Underlining the importance Beijing places on this initiative, on hand at the unveiling ceremony was Liu Yandong, a member of the Communist Party of China’s Politburo, the top official in charge of China’s education policy. Also in attendance was American billionaire and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, who donated $100 million to the programme.

In November 2015, China’s State Council announced plans to “develop world-class universities and first-class disciplines”. The focus is on improving the quality of faculty and research, with the aim of getting Chinese universities into the world’s top 15 by 2030. “It is still early, but we’re making good progress,” says David Li Daokui, a Harvard-educated economist who returned to China to become one of its most influential scholars, and someone who often advises the government on policy.