Education reform pushed forward(2)

Training organizations highlighted opportunities in the reform.

"We've talked to hundreds of students and parents of students about this change, and not a single one has indicated they will be less interested in speaking English because of this change," said Bill Fisher, CEO of Education First China, a company that specializes in language training.

"The simple reason is that our customers understand that learning English is a life skill that opens doors both personally and professionally, and the gaokao doesn't change that. In fact, the emphasis on exams and exam preparation has created a generation of students who do well in tests but cannot use English in the real world. This is a huge problem in China. The EF method focuses on building skills and confidence that will see test scores go up, but more importantly help students succeed in the real world."

Other organizations are making changes accordingly. "Although the changes made to the gaokao will make it uncomfortable for the students who are used to the traditional way of examination, we still have (at least) three years to adjust," said Wang Wei, vice-president of Xueersi, a training organization under the Tomorrow Advancing Life Education Group.

"With the release of more reform details, we will modify our classes accordingly. But there won't be big changes to our basic teaching concept."

More transparency

In late November, Cai Rongsheng, head of student admissions at Renmin University of China, one of China's most prestigious educational establishments, was detained and placed under investigation for allegedly selling university places.

Just weeks later, another high-profile figure, An Xiaoyu, vice-president of Sichuan University, the most respected college in southwestern China, was reported to be under investigation following allegations of corruption related to the construction of a new campus.

Early this month, the ministry released a regulation that urged local education authorities and universities to make admissions programs public. Admission rules, the results of autonomous exams, and the recruiting process must be readily available to the public. It will also unveil a master plan to reform college enrollment in the first half of next year.

Moreover, the ministry made public on its official website a hotline to report misconduct in the graduate school entrance exams, which will be held from Saturday to Monday.

Experts urged the authorities to give more rights to colleges and universities to establish more transparency.

"The reforms are only in the planning stage this year without any actual measurement," said Xiong Bingqi, vice-president of 21st Century Education Research Institute. "I hope more measurements will be carried out in the next year, especially promoting the reform of non-administration in higher education to establish modern universities."

Under the present system, university presidents are allocated specific levels in a political ranking system. University officials, from deans to the heads of student admissions, are ranked accordingly, which means a higher rank always translates into a louder voice in the decision-making process.

Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, said: "The reforms on administration and the separation of enrollment from examination will have a major influence. I hope these measures will be implemented soon.''