Each year, millions of carp go upstream and congregate at Dragon Gate, a section of the Yellow River, to try their fortune - but only 72 of them are lucky enough to jump over the mysterious gate and become mighty dragons, according to a Chinese legend.

For Chinese youth, the annual national college entrance examination is a similar travail. Those who pass the exam receive a good education, find well-paid jobs and generally lead better-off lives; but the majority of the students who fail the exam will most probably become blue-collar workers, salespeople or start small businesses, which may yield low incomes.

No wonder the examination is aptly described as "tens of thousands of people trying to cross the river on a one-log bridge simultaneously."

The cruel competition results from the simple fact that China is plagued by scarce education resources. As a developing country that boasts one-quarter of the world's schooling population, China has only 1.5 per cent of the world's financial resources for education.

Moreover, until recently, the government had almost exclusively financed public education, discouraging and even forbidding the funding of education with private money.

It was not until 1982, shortly after the country launched its reform and opening-up policies, that the country's first private higher education institution - China Social University - was established in the capital with the approval of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission. Development was slow after that. By 1998, almost two decades later, the total number of private colleges and universities nationwide was no more than 22.

In 1987, Ding Zuyi, who was deprived of higher education 45 years ago for political reasons, initiated China's biggest private university, the Xi'an Translation College in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The self-taught worker-turned-university-president believes that students who fail to pass the college examination could become professionals of a high calibre if they have the opportunity to receive further education.

In the 16 years since its establishment, the college has evolved into a modern education giant with 600 million yuan (US$72 million) worth of fixed assets and some 25,000 students on campus; of whom 98 per cent find jobs soon after graduation. In June 2002, some joint ventures recruited some top students of the college even before their graduation, promising annual salaries of as much as 400,000 yuan (US$48,000). The college is financially stable, too. It earns a profit of some 150 million yuan (US$18 million) annually.

In 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001, the college enrolled 6,800, 7,000, 9,700 and 8,300 students respectively. More than 80 per cent of the newly-enrolled students had a higher score than the minimum college enrollment requirement set by Shaanxi Province.

"This shows that private colleges have also become the choice for some students who could attend public colleges," President Ding said.

However, owing to the influence of traditional concepts and management systems, most private schools still face difficulties. The government imposes stringent standards when gauging their credentials as educators.

Some local authorities simply see private colleges as nothing more than money-making machines than institutions providing a much-needed service.

"Private schools are generally regarded as inferior to their public peers, and without any reputation," says an official on condition of anonymity. As a result, public colleges and universities are still the first choice for students, who turn to private schools only as a last resort.

In 1999, China adopted a higher education expansion policy, and the central government delegated the authority of accrediting non-degree-granting institutions to provincial governments. This change has helped elevate many private institutions that had previously provided only "self-study programmes" to prepare students for national college entrance examinations.

Since then, the private education sector has witnessed a boom. As of 2002, the country had some 1,200 non-government-run institutions of higher learning, with a combined student enrollment of 1.5 million.

On December 28, 2002, China promulgated its first national legislation on private education, which explicitly stipulates that students of non-public education institutions enjoy the same rights and interests as their counterparts in public schools with regard to entering schools for higher degrees and employment. The new law goes into effect on September 1 this year.

A significant clause of the law "allows investors in private schools to gain a reasonable profit after setting aside operational expenses, a development fund and other necessary outlays," according to Chinese experts.

Yang Chun, an official with the China Adult Education Association, notes that the clause has helped solve a major problem that has bedevilled the development of private education for dozens of years. "Private schools should not be profit-driven, but a reasonable economic return is a crucial precondition," he says.

Meanwhile, he points out some problems of the new law - it fails to solve the permanent residence permit (hukou) of teachers who might be employed by private colleges in other cities.

Despite limitations of the new law, Ding is all optimism. "We've travelled a long way, from being merely complementary entities to public colleges and universities to being their rivals," he says. "With the law, we can certainly do better."

(HK Edition 07/31/2003 page1)