China's education dilemma: building Harvard-level universities within a firm ideological lock
Creating top schools will be hard if Beijing insists on ideological control, expert says
A new government plan to create "world class" universities in the coming decades could be undermined by the Communist Party's determination to keep a firm ideological grip over education, analysts say.
To create institutions that can compete with the best, teachers and administrators must have independence to structure the learning environment, they argue.
In a plan released last Thursday, the State Council called for the nation to become "a world power of higher education" by 2050.
Some disciplines and institutions should be elevated to global standard by 2020, and the number should be increased over the ensuing decade, it said, without giving specifics or criteria.
The blueprint also called for stronger party leadership and ideological work at higher education institutions.
But the two goals could be difficult to reconcile, according to Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute.
"To become a world-class university, the priority should be on a modern and independent governance system within the school," Xiong said.
