Voices

Overseas trips will cost plenty and teach little

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-27 08:00

The Ministry of Education announced recently that it is organizing overseas study tours for 100 university presidents. Destinations include Japan, US, UK and Australia and each study session will last 24 days, with 21 spent overseas and three involved with domestic activities.

During the overseas study periods, participants will have on-the-spot inspections and case studies and also attend classes given by professors and scholars.

All overseas expenses, including the cost of air travel and accommodation, will be paid from a special State fund while the cost of the three days spent in China will be covered by the universities.

When responding to questions about the program, an education ministry spokesman said it aims to learn from the experiences of world-renowned universities, promote the building of domestic universities, broaden the vision of university leaders, enhance international cooperation and exchanges, and finally improve the quality and competitiveness of domestic institutions of higher learning.

The ministry said China plans to build several world-class universities within 10 years.

We do not question the sincerity of the authorities in improving the quality of Chinese schools, but is overseas training a good option?

It has been common for domestic schools of higher learning to conduct exchanges with their overseas counterparts during the past three decades, ever since China adopted a reform and opening up policy. It is no exaggeration to say that all university heads have already had overseas tours in the name of research and study. And various exchange and cooperation projects have been set up between domestic institutions and their overseas counterparts.

Those frequent exchanges, however, did not shorten the distance between Chinese schools and the world-famous ones. On the contrary, such practices as plagiarizing papers, cheating in academic study and bribe-taking in campus-building are, in fact, widening the distance between Chinese and international schools.

It is hard to believe the ministry-organized tour will work miracles.

Even if it is not a leisure tour at the taxpayers' expense, what can these school officials really hope to learn within 24 days?

If the sole purpose of the overseas tour is just to give these school officials an international vision, it is a sheer waste of money. Because a person without such a broad vision should never be allowed to occupy the position of university president in the first place.

At a time of fierce competition for personnel and resources, we cannot afford to train a university head from nothing.

Most importantly, relevant departments must bear in mind that the purpose of providing education is to cultivate talent, not to serve the individual interests of a certain person or group. Otherwise, even the advanced experiences of international universities could be abused by corrupt school authorities in China.

Excerpts from a comment that appeared in Beijing Morning Post on May 19

(China Daily 05/27/2010)