A national forum on the development of private education is due to be held in Nanjing, the capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, from October 10-14.

The forum, the first of its kind, is designed to help implement the Private Education Promotion Law, which will become effective on September 1 this year.

Initiated by four organizations, including the China Central Institute of Educational Science, the forum will feature discussions on specialist topics and exhibitions showcasing achievements in private education, said organizers.

According to number breakdowns in 2002, there were 61,300 private educational undertakings in various capacities across China, including 1,335 private institutions of higher learning and 1,085 vocational secondary schools, as well as 10,484 private primary and middle schools.

Independent and private higher learning institutions in China are playing an increasingly important role in promoting the development of higher education in the country.

Since the early 1990s, private colleges and universities have sprung up all over the country, especially in economically and culturally developed areas such as Beijing, Shanghai, and provinces like Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang, contributing to the rapid growth of higher education in China.

So far, there are over 200 such institutions in the country, taking in about 200,000 students every year.

"Our aim is to provide opportunities for more students to receive higher education and at the same time, lessen the government's financial burden of providing heavy revenues for university education," said Tao Yongde, president of Sanjiang University.

Sanjiang University, which is now a four-year programme university, is the first private university in Jiangsu Province, and was founded in 1992 by some retired professors from Southeast University and Nanjing University.

Statistics show that before the appearance of private colleges, less than 50 per cent of high school graduates in Jiangsu could go to university. But now about 75 per cent of them have the chance to receive higher education.

"We design our courses according to the demand of the job market so that students can easily find jobs after graduation," said Xu Shiliang, president of Guihu College.

Because of the compatibility of the courses with market demands, private college graduates are very competitive in the job market and their employment rate has reached over 80 per cent in the past few years.

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