Summary Report to UNESCO for UNESCO Chair program in higher education at Peking University, PR China

Transcription

1 Summary Report to UNESCO for UNESCO Chair program in higher education at Peking University, PR China Drafted by Wan-hua Ma Dr. The Graduate School of Education Peking University. The UNESCO Chair program in higher education at Peking University was launched in By the end of the first two years, a report for the Chair activities was submitted to the section of higher education in UNESCO in Paris in The following report concerned with activities after Professor Min, Weifang, ( Chairman of the university council and the dean of the Graduate School at Peking University) the UNESCO Chair-holder in higher education, initiated many academic and research activities in higher education since What is summarized and reported here is just an outline of those researches and activities. The report is divided into three parts: research and academic activities, international conferences and future initiatives. Part: I Research and Academic Activities since 2002 Since 2002, a study on interaction of higher education and labor market in China was carried out. To relate with the major theme of the study, the Graduate School of Education at Peking University, under the leadership of Professor Min, carried out many research and academic activities. To be brief, it covers six major research areas: 1) the operation of higher education in socialist market economy; 2), Policy and cost on higher education; 1

2 3), Case analysis and theoretical study for higher education in economy transition in China 4), Study on human resources development and education in China 5), Internationalization of APRU universities: local practices and future development. 6), The governance and operation of research universities. Of each area, faculty focuses their attention for research projects. Such as in , Peking University and South California University cooperatively carried out a research on Internationalization of APRU universities: local practices and future development, two surveys were sent out to 37 universities in the Asia and Pacific Rim. Participating universities include Chile university, Mexico university, UBC in Canada, as well as universities from China. In the mid of 2004, at APRU universities presidents meeting, a report was submitted to all of the APRU university presidents. And also based on those research areas, international scholars and specialists are invited to offer lectures on various issues concerning globalization and higher education, internationalization of higher education, educational policy change in higher education either in developing countries or developed countries, human resource development in the third world and the finance of higher education in China, market economy and educational paradigm change, modern communication technology and its influence to higher education, the development of Non-governmental universities in China, quality control in higher education with social transition and higher education system expansion. 2

3 The lectures are open to faculty and graduate students within the graduate school of education as well as to the general public. Currently, a group of well-know international experts in higher education has been organized as affiliate faculty to the graduate school of education. This has obviously increased the UNESCO Chair program s research capacity. Books, reports and papers were published or submitted to relevant national and organizations, such as World Bank, Ford Foundation, Asia Development Bank and UNDP. International cooperation has been established with the above mentioned organization as well as university associations in Asia and Pacific Rim and in Europe. Part II: Major international conferences Based on those research activities and lecture themes, several international conferences were either initiated or organized by Min Weifang, the UNESCO Chair-holder, with funds from Chinese government, international organization or local contributions. The following just provides an brief outline for the major conferences held between as highlights. 2002: July 20-Aug.2. Conference of Chinese-foreign University Presidents Forum was held under the general theme: building leadership capacity, envisioning university future. The conference was originally initiated by the Chair-holder, and later organized by the State Department of Education, Peking University and Tsinghua University. The purpose of the conference was to exchange views and to look for better ways or approaches for university governance, quality control, and university management. Around 100 University Presidents for Europe, North America and East Asia participated the two weeks conference. Issues and problems concerning Chinese higher education as well as higher education in general were addressed. For the conference, it was identified that new developmental trend in term of globalization has posed more requirements on school management that modern universities should be placed under modern management and top-notch universities should be supported by top-notch management has placed a huge responsibility on university presidents who are requested to acquire 3

4 strategic way of thinking and foresight as well as global vision and forward-looking mindset and be good at harmonizing the relationship between universities and the society by mobilizing and deploying various resources. The universities all over the world share the common origins of human civilization and are deeply rooted in the social, historical and cultural soil of their own countries. It is therefore of special significance for Chinese and foreign university presidents to exchange views and discuss those issues at the conference :February China s Private Education: Policy and Administration the conference was co-organized by The Graduate School of Education, Peking University, Shanghai Academy of Education, The United Nations International Children s Fund (UNICEF) The United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), and Co-organized by The Ministry of Education. With participants from multi-international organizations and local communities to address the issues concerning the Legislation of China s Non-governmental Education, The two days meeting with speakers from World Bank, UNESCO and representatives from Non-governmental education institutions to discussion policy issues in non-governmental Higher Education, to define the role of non-government sector in a modernizing economy, to address the issues with accreditation and evaluation of non-governmental institutions. 2004: Feb a workshop was held for Internationalization of APRU (Association of Universities in Asia and Pacific Rim) universities: local practices and future development. The workshop was designed to help APRU members better understand how they might improve and expand their internationalization activities and how APRU members might increase collaboration among themselves in those activities by sharing experiences face to face. The meeting was co-organized by Southern California University and Peking University, and it was held at Peking University. 47 people representing 25 universities from South Asia, North America, Oceanic countries and East Asia participated in the workshop. People from business, humanities, engineering and many other disciplines exchanged their views of best practices in internationalization of their institutions or specific program. Though the workshop lasted only two days, people enjoyed sharing their ideas and experience and expressing their interest in collaboration with each other. It is recognized that internationalization is an important factor for university development, so participants expressed their concerns to 4

5 put more priority for promoting international cooperation in order to improve university s international cooperativeness. It is also recognized that the approaches and strategies university used to internationalization are different from one another. Such as in the case of Peking University, the internationalization process took place along with the implementation of the new national policies of economic reform and opening up to the outside world since the late 1970s. So sending students out and inviting scholars in was an approach first explored, but now, many new strategies are adopted. Totally around 250 institutional agreement with foreign universities have been signed, many joint research projects have been carried out, different students exchange programs are established to train future leaders by addressing problems related with environment, human rights and food shortage, and to increase students multi-cultural conscientiousness. This indicates each of us have adopted a set of strategies and approaches in the process of internationalization to meet university s mission and goals. 2004: Aug The International meeting of University administrators was held at Peking University. The major theme of the meeting is managerial capacity building in universities: taking opportunities and managing risks with four sub-themes. The sub-themes are 1), Promoting institutional and organizational effectiveness; 2), Risk management and entrepreneurship in higher education; 3), Maximizing Staff Performance: Issues in Staff Development and Human Resource Management; 4), Promoting change and academic innovation. Participants for the conference came from all over the world, they are from countries and areas like England, Estonian, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Finland, Poland, Denmark, Malta, Czech. Sweden, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, US, Canada, Jamaica, Barbado, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and China. Totally there are more than 150 middle level of university administrators participate the meeting to address their common concerns and to exchange ideas and views with university administration in the new global era. In current developmental trend, economic globalization has a great impact on universities. Such as in the case of China, the rapid growth of the economy, the significant increase of family income, the joining into WTO raised a demand for higher education, on the one hand, the nation has expected universities to be more productive in scientific research and to be more responsive to the social needs, on the other hand, 5

6 universities have a responsibility to transmit traditional culture and values. With so much demand from the state, society, and in such a competitive world, it is important for a university to be competitive, to be international, but it is also important to keep their uniqueness and diversity. Part III. New Initiatives For future activities, as mentioned in Part I, many research projects are on-going. National and international conferences and workshops are going to be organized depending on the time-line of the research projects. In Oct. 2005, there are going to be two international conferences under the leadership of Professor Min, Weifang. One is Peking Forum, of which is going to be funded by South Korean Cooperate. In the forum, there is going to be a section on education and development. And the other conference is <U21 Symposium> address the issues of university s diversity and internationalization. We are also planning an conference or workshop to bring UNESCO chairs in education to Peking University to discuss how UNESCO chair programs in education world-wide would cooperate with each other as a linkage between the developed and developing countries in promoting education development in Actually now we are looking for funding of this activity, and also seeking UNESCO s support or advice, too. For this initiative, Ms lee has sent a message to me, expressing the difficulty of organizing such an activity. In consultation with President Min, the chair program here at the graduate school of education is open to UNESCO s suggestion. 6