Global Development

The Community College Movement in China

China’s interest in community colleges became evident in the 1980s during the early phase of China’s reform and opening to the outside world -- a time when foreign innovations were being assessed for their potential contribution to China’s modernization drive. As early as 1982, during a meeting at Fudan University with one of us, the Vice President, an internationally renowned scientist, explained China’s need to develop U.S.-type community colleges and requested US assistance to develop them. In 1985, one of us was asked to assist a master’s degree student writing a dissertation about American community colleges and was invited to an education commission meeting on higher vocational-technical education at which Canadian community college models figured prominently. Another one of us comes from China has studied community college development in China for many years.

Among the international agencies aiding China’s efforts to learn about and experiment with community college models were the World Bank and the Ford Foundation. The Bank supported study overseas visits and Ford continues to support capacity building in particular colleges, as well as research related to training of migrants.

Through hundreds of visits and two-way in international exchanger’s Chinese educators and officials have explored a variety of models to determine the most effective ways to produce skilled labor and advanced professionals in accordance with China’s needs. In addition to North American community colleges, German technical and Dual-system vocational colleges, Australia’s Technical and Further Education (TAFE), and similar institutions in France, South Korea and Japan have been considered.

Today, with the support and encouragement of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), more than eighty US community colleges have developed agreement affiliations and exchanges with Chinese counterparts. Maricopa Community College system (Arizona), LaGuardia CC/city University of New York, San Francisco City College (California) and Lorain County CC (Ohio) are among those with well-established working relationships.

In 1984, The U.S. China Education Foundation (USCEF) collaborated with Chengdu city and Qionglai County, Sichuan to establish the Heihutan Village School of Agriculture, a two-year college designed to assist a rural area modernize in three priority areas: tertiary education, agricultural mechanization and rural economic development including sideline enterprises. USCEF supported William Hinton, known in China as Han Ding, an agriculture specialist with many years of China experience, as a farm mechanization advisor to the college. The UNDP supported Dr. Paul Chen of Oregon State University, to lecture and provide curriculum advice at Heihutan for several months.

Heihutan incorporated some features common in U.S, community colleges-open access for high school graduates or equivalency, general education requirements for curricula leading to diplomas, short-cycle and part-time courses open to village adults and farmers, and agriculture extension work similar to that provided by U.S. land-grant universities, certificates and diplomas could be earned. However, articulation with degree-granting institutions, transfer and degrees were not possible. By 1988, the Heihutan College was widely recognized in Sichuan and neighboring provinces as an effective institution combining concepts of U.S community colleges. As a result, Qionglai was designated of one of only three agricultural experimental counties out of Sichuan’s 200. By 1990, the college was self-sustaining. At the turn of the 21^st century, Heihutan College had provided several thousand rural residents with full time or short cycle education.

The experience with Heihutan and its close relationship with the Shanxi Province-City University of New York partnership initiated in 1985 led USCEF to consider additional possibilities for community college development in China. Based upon needs identified by China’s educators and officials and with significant Ford Foundation Funding since 1999, USCEF sponsored a collaborative, three-year community college in China project (CCIC). Action grants were awarded to colleges-two in Beijing, two in Taiyuan and two in Shanghai. The colleges developed projects designed to enable them to incorporate some community colleges features and become more comprehensive educational institutions. Curriculum developments, career counseling centers, paraprofessional social work training, community outreach programs and training for district enterprises were among the grant projects.

Each college was invited to send two professors to selected U.S community colleges as professional fellows for five to six-week internships linked to its specific grant. Mesa Community College and PIMA Community College (Arizona), Pikes Peak Community College (Colorado), Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts) and Howard Community College (Maryland) were the cooperating hosts. USCEF supported U.S. community college consultants to assist the Chinese Colleges in implementing their grants. With the coordination of the National Committee on US-China Relations, CCIC hosted a community college leadership delegation of Chinese college leaders, researchers and officials. The delegation visited a diverse group of community colleges in New York, Iowa, Texas and Arizona, and participated in the America Association of Community Colleges Centennial meeting in Chicago.

USCEF sponsored a series of thematic workshops in China designed to sum up activities and to plot a new course for cooperation in community college development. In November 2001 USCEF/CCIC sponsored a workshop at Shanghai Teachers University for our partner colleges. It provided a forum in which program participants could network, discuss “lessons learned,” and set the stage for future activities. College presidents and staffers, a number of them former interns, and members of our April 2001 Leadership Group attended. Mr. Liu Junyi, the Director of the Vocational-Technical Education Bureau of the Division of Higher Education, Ministry of Education addressed the opening plenary of the workshop. He emphasized China’s need for community colleges for regional economic development, to provide life-long learning opportunities, and to meet the needs of an urbanizing rural sector. He stated that CCs should show five characteristics:

1. 
   Openness CCs must break out of the traditional “walled-in” education model.
   
2. 
   Diversity CCs should offer a diverse range of credential-granting and non-credential granting educational opportunities.
   
3. 
   Flexibility should be expressed in a CC’s programs and approaches.
   
4. 
   Resource sharing CCs will have to rely on local and existing resources-a new system will “definitely not start from scratch”.
   
5. 
   Social Participation
   

In April 2002, USCEF hosted representatives from CCIC partner colleges and the Tertiary Technical and Vocational Education Research Association of China (TTVERAC) to attend the AACC convention in Seattle. Several members of the group gave presentations on community colleges in China. They also arranged post-conference visits to community colleges in California and Arizona.

In November 2002, CCIC/USCEF, Shanghai Teachers University (STU), and TTVERAC sponsored a 3-day conference on leadership and management for community colleges in China at STU. One hundred educators from the US and China participated in the workshops. Chinese participants included representatives from our partner institutions as well as members of TTVERAC, the Shanghai and Beijing education communities, US participants included an AACC-sponsored delegation of US community college leaders. Researchers of School of Education of Beijing University were engaged to conduct an evaluation of the first two years of the project. They identified some problems with follow up and implementation of the Action Grants. Nevertheless, there are the following major positive findings:

1. 
   Feedback about the internship programs was overwhelmingly positive. Faculty members who took part in the program spoke highly of their American host colleges and their learning experiences, and provided concrete examples of some features of the US community colleges they’d like to incorporate into future development of their college.
   
2. 
   Chinese educators have said that because of the project, their attitude and vision have been changed toward college teaching and learning. Such features of the US institutions as student-centered teaching and learning, and close links between the college and community are most frequently deemed as worth learning by the Chinese educators.
   

The interest in American community colleges has been largely focused on improving vocational-technical capacity, as well as building a more efficient model of administration and finance, without including general education, core requirements basic to all United States community college associate degrees, articulation and transfer to baccalaureate institutions.

The driving force in China’s community college movement within the larger voc-tech sector has been the transition from a planned to a market economy, especially solving the emergent problems of massive layoffs of workers from state owned enterprises (xiagang) and migration of rural farmers seeking work in urban areas (nonggong). As the planned economy, well-known for guaranteed employment, was jettisoned, many state owned enterprises were gradually sold off and privatized. New criteria for efficiency of production and marketability of products led to the laying off of hundreds of thousands of workers, many in their middle age, who were without new job prospects. In many cases, the budding market economy was not able to absorb these workers. At the same time, large numbers of rural residents were descending upon China’s cities looking for work. While many of them were among the most educated from the donor regions that were leaving, few had the skills needed to support the urban host regions where they settled. Therefore, China’s community college movement focused less on the ideology of democracy through equality of educational opportunity, as often represented by the associate degree and pathways to four-year colleges and universities. Rather, the need in China was defined in terms of finding better ways to deliver vocational and technical skills to adults seeking or changing employment in a dynamic economy that needed more skilled workers in variety of new fields.

The community college movement also occurred during a major overhaul of China’s senior secondary and higher education systems. During the period of the planned economy, ministries ran their own middle level specialized secondary schools (zhongzhuan) schools, as well as their own colleges. These led directly to employment within work units under their respective ministries. However, with the introduction of market forces, these institutions became costly to run and were either merged with other institutions, and/or transferred from ministry control to provincial control. At the same time, the government began to expand regular senior secondary vocational education (zhigao) under city education departments. These no longer guaranteed employment after graduation but were encouraged to build close relationships with industrial enterprises and gain financial support by preparing graduates for work and meshing training with the needs of those enterprises.

China’s higher education system has maintained the split between regular and adult higher education. The former are government sponsored institutions that usually enroll students directly from secondary school. The upper layer offers the four year bachelor degree and the lower layer offers a two - three year junior college curriculum that is both general and vocational. The adult higher education sector comprises vocational and technical schools and colleges, largely affiliated with industries and businesses leading to diplomas and certificates, and providing a path toward the government sponsored self-study examinations that can lead toward a bachelor-degree. They primarily enroll employees of those industries and businesses. The enrolments in adult higher education nearly equaled that for regular higher education, even though the status of adult higher education, generally a part-time supplement, is generally viewed as lower than that for regular higher education, despite the fact that both have similar diploma titles. While China has removed the age limit for the higher education entrance examination for regular colleges and universities, the split sector (adult and regular) remains, particularly in the manner in which higher education is administered. Community colleges emerged as part of the adult higher education sphere. Adult higher education, which received a big boost after the Cultural Revolution as a solution to the closing of colleges and universities that affected a generation of students from 1944-1976, expanded along with regular higher education.

Adult higher education (chengren gaodeng jiaoyu) may provide specialized study (zhuanke), similar to an associate degree, and even provide a path to an adult education bachelor degree (chenren benke xuewei). Those who want to attain such a degree must first pass the national adult higher education examination (chengren gaokao), which is easier than the national higher education entrance examination. However, attaining the actual bachelor degree requires adults to pass a series of difficult self-study examinations (zikao).

There has also been an explosion of private colleges, also referred to as popularly run (minban) colleges. In fact, only about 25 of the 1662 can confer a bachelor’s degree, and about one hundred provide a credential comparable to an associate degree (da zhuan xueli). Nevertheless, there are a number of problems, including the lack of a sound legal environment (despite the 2002 promulgation of a Private Education Promotion Law) and policies that guarantee fair competition with public education, indefinite ownership and insecurity, all of which are deterrents to the further development of private education. In recent years, the private colleges have had to compete with a new form of higher education known as independent colleges (er ji xueyuan). These colleges are attached to public colleges and universities and benefit by their academic reputation and financial resources.

As public colleges and universities establish these independent colleges, they operate like private institutions in the sense that they can lower student admission scores and charge higher rates of tuition and fees. However, few independent colleges can be truly independent. Many do not have their own campuses as their major investors are the parent public institution. Critics argue that the major function of government should be to formulate rules and maintain an environment of fair competition, and it is unfair when the resources of independent colleges and most private schools are those left over by public resources. Since the tuition and fees of public schools are highly restricted, public schools use private mechanisms to earn profits. Some believe these quasi-private colleges are the main obstacle to the development of private higher education, since they hinder the formulation of a pattern for the common development of public and private education.

A major role of the private colleges has been to help the students enter the Chinese self-learning examination (zikao) – an examination system managed by the government. If someone can pass the whole series of examination courses in one academic area (i.e. Chinese literature, computer studies, accounting, etc.), a bachelor degree can be awarded. The private colleges help those students who cannot enter public universities prepare for these self-study examinations.

According to the Ministry of Education in 2002, there were 1,337,300 students who graduated from regular higher education institutions and 1,175,000 who graduated from adult higher education institutions. Applicants for self study examination number 1,267,700. Students enrolled in the self-examination system account for 60.7 percent of students in higher education. From 1981 to 2004, 4300 thousands of students took part in self-examination in China and 625 thousands of those were awarded dazhuan or bachelor degree. Students who pass a course can receive credit for that course. Those who fail the course may retake it as many times as it takes to earn a passing grade. Individuals select their own courses. Generally, the rate of students who get a self-examination degree is about 30-40 percent of the total every year. Starting from the 1981, there were several specialties offered, including Chinese, law, economy, mathematics and English; the number has grown to 500 specialties.

The Concept and Reality

The named community colleges in China mainly grew out of the adult education institutions under state or local governments. In order to further develop adult education schools, city governments like Beijing and Shanghai borrowed the name -- community colleges from United States, and opened them to the local community. Although it seemed like community colleges could develop well and meet the needs of urban residents in the 1990s, the central government did not accept the name community college and many community colleges are still not officially recognized by the central government. Many community colleges applied to be recognized and changed their name to higher professional and technical college (gaodeng zhiye jishu xueyuan). Since community college can not recruit students who take part in the national higher education entrance examination, --an important source for college students, it became increasingly difficult for these institutions. Nevertheless, China’s named community colleges and specialized vocational and technical colleges can, in some cases, provide a few bachelor degree programs and specialized technical degrees (dazhuan degree lower than a bachelor degree). Haidian University in Beijing, Sanda College in Shanghai’s Pudong district and xian Translation College in Xian are three notable examples.

“The Blue Print”

The most important document affecting the planning of higher vocational-technical education in China, including community colleges is the human resource blueprint (Strategic Concepts for the Development of Chinese Education and Human Resources for the Next Fifty Years, hereafter referred to as the Blueprint) published in 2003. It was the first time that China organized scholars and experts, research institutions and government organs in education, economics, population control, laws, finance, and agriculture to compose a large research report on education. The Blueprint calls for a 99 percent enrolment rate for nine-year compulsory education by 2020, when 100 percent of junior secondary school students will enter senior secondary education. The current 54 percent enrolment rate in senior secondary education will grow to 73 percent by 2010, 85 percent by 2020, and 100 percent by 2050, when more than half of secondary school graduates will enter college or university and the percent of GDP invested in education will increase from its current four percent to 7.8 percent.

With respect to vocational-technical education, there is a very clear statement in the Blueprint on the part of government that it will move ahead. The following are excerpts:

1. 
   Up to 2010, out of 100,000 people, the numbers attending junior college and above to increase from 3,600 in 2000 to around 7,700, and the total number receiving senior secondary degrees to increase from 11,000 in 2000 to around 16,000.
   
2. 
   The proportion of employees receiving a junior college education or above should increase from 4.66 percent in 2000 to over ten percent in 2010.
   
3. 
   By 2020, there should be 13,000 out of 100,000 people receiving a junior college education or above; there should be 20,000 out of 100,000 people receiving a senior secondary education. People of working age (25-64 years) should have an average education of ten years; the level education of the workforce should be increased till 12 years; workers in the commercial and service sectors should on average receive approximately 11 years of schooling, 20 percent of whom would possess educational level of junior college and above, basically reaching the level of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations at the close of the twentieth century.
   
4. 
   By 2050, there should be 31,000 people out of every 100,000 who have received a junior college education or above; those with senior college level should about 30,000 people. Increase the amount of education of the workforce to near 14 years; the average years of education for workers in the commercial and service sectors should be 13.5 years, and of these 40 percent would have had an education of junior college or above, reaching the level of developed countries at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
   

Beijing Case Studies

In an effort to learn more about the situation of community colleges in China, we investigated eight community colleges in Beijing in 2003. Our results show that they provide a feasible way for disadvantaged students to get more education. But the recognition by the central government is problematic. If they want to be accepted as a formal part of higher education in China, they need to apply to the Ministry of Education at the national level and change name to higher level vocational and technical colleges (gaodeng zhiye jishu xueyuan). There are requirements for such request related to the space of the college and its facilities.

Our investigation included interviewing community college principals and surveying within the community colleges. These new types of higher level vocational and technical colleges grew out of the adult higher education sector, but were permitted beginning around 2001 to accept students directly from secondary school who took the national higher education entrance examination (gaokao luobao sheng) but did not score high enough for regular colleges and universities.

The adult higher education sector is composed of a broad array of institutions, though most of its credentials awarded are not degrees but rather diplomas or other specialized certificates. These institutions included TV universities, distance education, cadre management colleges in different industrial and service sectors (mining, banking, community party membership, women’s union, ethnic minority colleges, and worker colleges (jigong xuexiao)). In short, the adult higher education that found great appeal in the concept of community college.

The Beijing Case: There are at least eight community colleges in Beijing and there is a great deal of diversity across institutions. Our interviews revealed the following about the college’s general situation.

Finance

Shijinshan Community College in Beijing receives between 22 and 50 percent of its funding from government. It raises about 45 percent from student tuition fees. The rest is raised from the community, though college heads say they are not able to raise funds from it easily. It often relies upon short-term training to supplement college income. This can come to as much as seven million each year. The government funding each year is about RMB 4 million from the fund for employees and retired people’s salary. The government also appropriate special funds for construction of teaching buildings. In 2003 the government appropriated only RMB 1.4 million.

Zhongguancun College in Beijing has various sources for funding that totals RMB 9 million each year. The government appropriates 45.6 percent of the total college funding, and the college can earn 54.4 percent from tuition fee or other training program.

Chaoyang Community College received 40 percent of its funding from government and it can raise about 47 percent of its funding from tuition fees.

Xicheng College receives RMB 7 million from government -- 22 percent of the fund and it receives 78 percent --about RMB 20 million from community through training programs etc. accounting. About half of all the finding goes to teacher salaries, and 22 percent to administration. The student tuition fee is only about 2000-3000RMB per year, compared to the regular public universities of about 4000-6000RMB for one year. Generally, tuition fees are collected according to credit registration. One credit costs about RMB 105. For a major specialist, a student might pay RMB two thousand. Some majors such as art cost more -- about 2,500-3,000 yuan each year. The average fee for a student at Chaoyang community college is about RMB 2600 yuan per year.