On October 23, 2021, the new campus of Westlake University was officially opened.
With the third president of Fuyao University of Science and Technology, which has been established for less than three years, this kind of world-class private university founded by the foundation has attracted attention again.
In 2018, the emergence of Westlake University made the "foundation-run university" model implement for the first time in China. Subsequently, Fuyao University of Science and Technology and Eastern University of Technology adopted the foundation model, and the school's income, including donations, tuition fees, government grants, etc., was all included in the foundation, and the surplus of the school was not allowed to be used for dividends.
The founders of these universities have a similar vision, trying to explore a path to create a new type of private research university in terms of school-running model, management system, and talent training, and hope to one day build a high-level university that can compete with Qingbei and Harvard and Stanford.
The society also has more expectations for private higher education. Recently, Liu Lin, a national school inspector and president of the China Association for Private Education, was interviewed by Southern Weekend on how to differentiate private colleges and universities and how to deal with the student crisis.
Is it the school of the organizers, or is it the school of the society?
Southern Weekly: After Westlake University, private universities such as Fuyao University of Science and Technology and Eastern University of Technology have joined the army of creating high-level universities, which has given the society more expectations for private higher education. Judging from the current situation, is this foundation model sustainable in China?
Liu Lin: Foundation-run high-level universities is a direction for the development of China's private higher education, from the past to individual fund-raising to enterprise investment in running schools, and then to entrepreneurs and philanthropists through foundation donations to run schools, reflecting the development of private education institutions, with iterative symbolic significance, foundation-run universities will become an important highlight in the construction of an educational power.
At present, it remains to be seen whether the foundation-run model will become the mainstream trend of private education in the next stage, because these three modes of holding are corresponding to different levels of economic development. But this new trend is a good thing, and it also has the potential to be sustainable, and it is an upgraded version of the development of private education, because it is a socialization method that can make private education more recognized by the wider society.
In the process of educational development, there is one kind of capital that is very important - social capital. Social capital is different from physical capital and human capital, and its connotation is government recognition and social trust, which will bring more public welfare, "human, financial and material" resources and social credibility to the school. The core of why donations are now mainly directed to public schools is that the vast majority of people are reluctant to donate their private belongings to another privately controlled institution. However, if the main body of the organization is a public welfare organization or social institution such as a foundation, it can improve the degree of socialization of private schools, which is the key to opening the door to its social capital. Only by opening up the organizational form can we win an endless stream of social resources and support the sustainable development of private schools.
Although most private schools still have a strong private or corporate color, this situation will change in the future. From bigger to stronger, many private school organizers feel the pressure of continuous investment and begin to seek the path and way of socialization, which will of course be a long and painful process.
Southern Weekly: In your opinion, what are the main challenges facing a new type of private university like Fuyao University of Science and Technology?
Liu Lin: The main challenge is the education funding required to run a high-level university. Taking Fuyao University of Science and Technology as an example, the school invested 10 billion yuan in the early stage, and the school is currently building quite well, with good educational facilities and accommodation conditions. In addition, the Heren Charity Foundation will provide 500 million yuan to Fuyao University of Science and Technology every year. From this point of view, Fuyao University of Science and Technology has a higher starting point than many other private universities, and its financial strength is even stronger. It can be said that Fuyao University of Science and Technology is a model of the largest amount of individual donations to run schools in mainland China since the reform and opening up, which is worthy of admiration and advocacy.
Still, compared to public universities, Fuyao University of Science and Technology still can't match the scale of funding. For example, Tsinghua University spends 41 billion yuan a year, and more than 20 colleges and universities across the country spend more than 10 billion yuan a year. In contrast, if there is no other source, including tuition and other income, Fuyao University of Science and Technology can only invest 600 million to 700 million yuan in running a school every year, and the funding will rank three or four hundred among universities in the country. In this case, it is very difficult to catch up with the top five universities in the country in terms of school level. Therefore, whether Fuyao University of Science and Technology can realize Mr. Cao's vision depends on the school's future income-generating ability and the foundation's ability to "turn into a relationship".
Southern Weekly: Recently, Fuyao University of Science and Technology has changed three presidents before it opens. Some analysts say that even if the foundation runs the school, what should the school do, who will manage it, or it depends on the actual controller, what do you think?
Liu Lin: First of all, it is the power granted by law for the organizer (actual controller) to nominate the principal and participate in the management of the school through legal channels. In an interview with the media, Mr. Cao Dewang said that his donation to run a university is not only an additional university in China, but also an exploration and attempt. This original intention is also destined for him to intervene in the management of the school. I think this is also human nature, after all, 10 billion has been invested, and we will continue to invest. If it were you and me, I guess we wouldn't have completely let it go while we were still in the preparation stage. Of course, under the common goal of "running the school well", how the organizer (entrepreneur) and the principal (educator) respect each other and cooperate tacitly is a difficult question. Fuyao University of Science and Technology can't avoid it.
However, strictly speaking, Zhu Chongshi and Mei Hong are not the official presidents of Fuyao University of Science and Technology, because at that time, the school had not yet been approved by the Ministry of Education to be officially established, the school had not yet enrolled students, and there were few on-the-job teaching staff. Building a school is a complex task, with different tasks at each stage and requiring people with different expertise. Now, the school is about to be officially established and recruit talents and students, and it is the right time for Wang Shuguo, the former president of Xi'an Jiaotong University, to become the president.
Southern Weekly: What more policy support do China's private universities need to catch up with world-class universities such as Harvard and Stanford?
Liu Lin: In addition to the need to innovate management policies and evaluation systems, and appropriately expand the autonomy of schools in running schools, from the current policy level, there are three suggestions.
The first is to improve the system of encouraging public welfare donations. Private schools need to absorb a wide range of social resources to support, including individual donations, corporate donations, such as Harvard University relies on social donations for a large part of its income, and Stanford University and other universities have set up foundations to manage donated assets, relying on capital operation profits to cover part of the school's scientific research and education expenditures. At present, the donation system encouraged in China needs to be improved.
The second is to improve tax policies. To run a high-level private university, it is necessary to have sufficient financial guarantees, and the school must live within its limits every year, leaving a surplus, and it is inevitable that it can continue to invest and develop on a rolling basis through the accumulation of surpluses. Although the Law on the Promotion of Private Education stipulates that non-profit private schools enjoy the same tax incentives as public schools, there is still a "glass door" problem at the operational level, and if the tax standards of non-profit schools are consistent with those of enterprises, most of the organizers will choose to set up for-profit schools (enterprises), and which high-level university in the world is a for-profit school? This is also contrary to the direction of the central government's policy guidance, the direction of social expectations, and the orientation of traditional Chinese values.
Imagine, if an entrepreneur donates 10 billion yuan to set up a non-profit school, and invests 500 million yuan every year, if the accumulation of school surplus is levied enterprise income tax, and a quarter of the development funds set aside every year will be collected, what social perception and impact will this cause? "Don't turn the cause of conscience into a profit-seeking industry" is the strategic direction pointed out by the central government for private education, and the implementation of this fundamental requirement requires the consciousness of the organizers, and also needs policy guidance and institutional guarantee consistent with this spirit. The rise of foundation-run high-level universities has further highlighted the tax problem of non-profit private schools, and the implementation of the operational level should be accelerated.
The third is to improve the construction of social supervision mechanisms in private schools. Government departments should further innovate management methods and give full play to the role of third-party evaluation and social supervision.
Liu Lin, National Inspector and President of the China Association for Private Education. (Photo provided by the interviewee/photo)
In the future, private education should pay attention to quality and characteristics
Southern Weekly: At present, there has been the closure of private kindergartens in many places, and the problem of student origin will gradually spread to primary schools, middle schools and universities.
Liu Lin: That's to be expected. In October 2020, although the market was optimistic that the scale of private education would continue to grow, the China Association for Private Education had reminded industry insiders that the scale of private education would decline during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and everyone should be psychologically prepared. An important basis for this conclusion is population trends.
In 2023, the proportion of students enrolled in private (kindergarten) schools in the country will be one-sixth of the country's students, which was higher in the past, and its contribution to the popularization of education can be seen. On the one hand, the development of private education has alleviated the financial pressure on the government and enabled public financial resources to be used in places where it is more needed, and on the other hand, it has played a very prominent role in solving the difficulty of schooling for the children of migrant workers in urban areas, providing all-weather care services for left-behind children in rural areas, and meeting the diversified educational needs of a certain group of people through flexible school running forms.
When the birth rate is below the replacement level, it has an impact on the size of education, first of all, on fee-based education. Therefore, it is normal for schools to close down or voluntarily quit during the trough period of the population. In 2023, the number of private schools nationwide will decrease by 11,100 compared with the previous year, and the number of public schools will decrease by more than 9,000 in the same period. It can be seen that the impact of the declining birth rate is a common problem faced by both public and private schools.
Southern Weekly: In this context, how can private universities become bigger and stronger?
Liu Lin: Private education should be transformed, from bigger to stronger, the stage of large population size will be bigger, and the population size will be smaller, and the education power requires all levels and all types of education to be stronger, and private education can not become a short board. The strength of private schools will point more to quality and characteristics in the future. In the future, the evaluation of private education should not be based on scale, but should be evaluated more on the basis of quality and characteristics.
Although the traditional education demand is declining with the population decline, the emerging education demand is emerging and growing, and the total scale of education demand will remain stable or can grow to a certain extent for a long time, so it is necessary to adjust the development strategy in time in response to this structural change, based on the new growth needs of the region, provide diversified services, and win the future with diversified development.
The practical dilemma of differentiated schooling
Southern Weekly: But at present, why do so few private universities embark on a differentiated path?
Liu Lin: This is a real dilemma. In the past, the development was based on consequentialism, and many problems did arise. Later, starting from risk prevention, government departments comprehensively strengthened process supervision. For example, in the setting of majors, although there was a catalog of majors in the past, schools could set their own majors when recruiting students, and there was also a lot of room for self-set courses, so that autonomy and flexibility could be exercised and brought into play. Later, many regulations were introduced, some of which were necessary, and some of which were too detailed, such as not allowing enrollment according to the direction of the major, and more and more detailed in the teaching process and curriculum management, leaving less and less space for the school, so that there was a thousand schools. Although some of the regulations are called guidelines, they are the basis for various assessments, evaluations, and inspections, and schools cannot but follow them.
In addition, some experts are very dogmatic, and even require teachers to be completely consistent with the plan at the beginning of the semester, experts are sent from above, and the school and teachers are also under pressure, and they no longer dare to adjust the course content and progress in time according to the students' learning situation, and they have encountered difficulties in the implementation of the student-oriented concept, and so on.
The practice of strengthening process management has ensured the standardization, orderliness, and basic quality of education and teaching, but it should also be noted that some excessively detailed regulations, especially the different regulations of different departments, have disintegrated and hollowed out many good policies and concepts, and have also made schools lose a lot of vitality. This is true for both private and public offices.
I remember a few years ago at a meeting, a principal said that educators run schools, the ideal is very full, and the reality is very skinny. Differentiated development is just the same, and a little difference may be deducted as non-standardized, so differentiation is more of a matter of spare time. His words resonated with a lot of people.
On the one hand, many problems arise from the problems that arise in the implementation process at the next level, which are not in line with the original intention of the policy, and it takes a process to improve the level of policy understanding and implementation. On the other hand, taking power and letting go, standardizing and innovating, have always been important issues plaguing educational reform for decades, and the grasp of the degree is a long-standing and difficult problem.
Southern Weekly: The outside world has the impression that the tuition fees of private universities are generally high.
Liu Lin: Compared with public schools, private schools definitely charge higher fees. But the other side of the problem is the contradiction between the increasing costs necessary to ensure the quality of education and the single source of funding. According to a statistic, the per capita funding income of students in general undergraduate colleges and universities in the country is 31,400 for public schools and 21,700 for private schools, a difference of 10,000. The disparity in funding and income is one of the important reasons for the disparity in quality.
If we want to improve the quality of education in private colleges and universities, we must increase investment, and where will the money come from? The policy system is designed to require the government to provide a certain amount of per student subsidies to non-profit private colleges and universities, so as to reduce the burden on parents; after all, students in private schools, like students in public schools, are the children of taxpayers and should also enjoy public financial support. However, this subsidy policy has rarely been implemented, so at this stage, private schools still mainly rely on fees.
My personal point of view, first, from the perspective of private schools, we must adhere to the nature of education for public welfare, should be based on the affordability of students' families and the actual cost of the formulation of fee standards, the level of fees should be linked to the quality and characteristics of the school, rather than the pursuit of profit margins, and resolutely oppose high fees for profiteering. 2. From the perspective of government departments, in accordance with the requirements of the Law on the Promotion of Private Education, non-profit private schools with good reputation and the needs of the people should be given a certain amount of tuition subsidies per student, which not only reduces the burden on parents, but also ensures the quality of education. Of course, supervision should also keep up, and establish a supervision mechanism for public financial funds invested in private schools to ensure that special funds are used exclusively and are not arbitraged.
In addition, it is necessary to study the issue of how to give full play to the advantages of the system and mechanism of private schools and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the use of funds and resources. At present, public and private colleges and universities are set up and managed according to the same set of system standards. For example, how much land must be occupied by the school, how many dormitories must be there, and how many full-time teachers must be used, which makes private colleges and universities have to copy the model and path of public universities step by step, and lose their identity.
The key to the development of private education is to give full play to its characteristics rather than to make it obscure. It is hoped that the state can innovate and set up standards and evaluation systems, so that private colleges and universities can take a different path from public institutions, so that public welfare private colleges and universities can continue to absorb more social investment by virtue of the advantages of the system and mechanism, and make the maximum benefit of resources, so as to make greater contributions to the country and the people.
Southern Weekly reporter Chen Yifan and Southern Weekly intern Dai Ziting
Editor-in-charge: Qian Wei