China Daring Experiment in Higher Education Opens Its Doors Richard Stone SHENZHEN, CHINA —Let's say a pirate ship is 560 meters from a seaside fort. If the fort can fire a cannonball at a speed of 82 meters per second, at which two angles could you raise the cannon and hit the ship? David Shuk Yin Tong, teaching Physics 101 in English, poses that question to the inaugural batch of freshmen here at South University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTC). A dozen hands shoot in the air. Now let's say the pirate ship is a new university that's taking aim at sacred cows of China's education system. So far the vessel has not been blown out of the water. But the stress is taking a toll on its commander, Zhu Qingshi. “I haven't been sleeping well for months,” he confides. Last month, Zhu launched SUSTC, a bold challenge to the country's education system. Among Chinese universities, SUSTC stands alone in spurning the national entrance exam, or Gao Kao : it enrolls high-flying students nominated not only for their grades but also for their creativity and passion for learning. In another innovation, SUSTC faculty members are not given administrative rank. In China, Zhu says, many professors spend more energy climbing this bureaucratic ladder than improving their teaching. And whereas other mainland universities have two leaders—president and Communist Party secretary—Zhu holds both titles and calls all the shots. View larger version: In this page In a new window Young pioneers. SUSTC's inaugural class has placed their fate in the hands of Zhu Qingshi ( left ), who has persuaded scholars like Zhang Xianke ( right ) to join his revolution. CREDITS: LAN HAI/SUSTC The central government has qualms about SUSTC's revolutionary approach; the education ministry has not granted it accreditation. SUSTC “wants to operate in a totally new mode. That will be a great challenge,” says Hao Zhifeng, a vice president at Guangdong University of Technology in Guangzhou. Zhu, 65, had no illusions that the road would be easy. But if he can succeed anywhere, it's here. Thirty years ago, China made a momentous decision to experiment with a market economy in Shenzhen. “We need to do the same with our education system,” Zhu says. Put another way, says SUSTC mathematics professor Zhang Xianke, “China's GDP has risen, but now science and education need to rise. We need to improve the way our people think.” The fact that the Chinese government has allowed SUSTC to set sail “is an indication of progress” toward education reform, says Gerard Postiglione, director of the Wah Ching Center of Research on Education in China at the University of Hong Kong. Zhu himself is exceptional: The physical chemist's pioneering work in laser spectroscopy won him election to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) at the age of 45. As president of CAS's University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei from 1998 to 2008, Zhu had a bird's-eye view as his teaching staff and students struggled to transform bookish smarts into creative sparks. Many talents, he observed, blossomed only after they went overseas for advanced training. “If China wants to become a leader in higher education,” Postiglione says, “more creative and deep-thinking students will have to come from Chinese universities.” That will require universities to reinvent themselves. Powerhouses like Tsinghua University and Peking University, both in Beijing, are attempting to do that through gradual evolution. Another initiative announced last week will try a hybrid strategy: New York University is partnering with East China Normal University to create NYU Shanghai. Expected to open in September 2013, the research university will also look beyond Gao Kao scores during admissions and enroll up to half its students from outside China. SUSTC is taking a more radical tack, with local support. Shenzhen officials “thought they could spend more money and build a better science university than Hong Kong,” Hao says. Shenzhen paid nearly $1 billion for the land for SUSTC's campus. Construction will cost another $300 million and is expected to be completed in June 2012. SUSTC plans to enroll 200 students next year. Its target in 5 years is 300 teaching staff, 2000 undergrads, and 100 graduate students. The university opened its doors 2 weeks ago to 45 freshmen at a temporary campus. Even this elite group has an outlier: 11-year-old Su Liuyi, who has already managed to wow his mathematics professor. “Su is not only clever, he also likes thinking. I've already introduced him to group theory,” says Zhang, who gave up a professorship at Tsinghua to come to SUSTC. The students know that they have taken a gamble in enrolling. “We don't have enough faculty, students, or even books in our library” to qualify officially as a university, Zhu says. Even if SUSTC expands as planned, the law requires many years of operation “before we can enroll Ph.D. students,” Zhu says. To overcome this hurdle, he must persuade the central government to either change the law or grant SUSTC status as an experimental post-graduate institution. Zhu has nevertheless managed to reel in a few outstanding faculty members, including Zhang, Tong, who is a former deputy president of City University of Hong Kong, and supercomputer specialist Chen Guoliang. As an inducement for others to follow, Zhu is building a research endowment. “We want our professors to never have to worry about funding. They can focus on research,” he says. The central government has given SUSTC 3 years to prove it deserves accreditation. If the university fails to make that case, its graduates may have little choice but to go abroad for further study or jobs; few companies in China would recognize their diplomas. Considering the sizable sum that Shenzhen is investing in SUSTC, Hao says, “no one wants to see it turn into a high-level prep school that sends elite Chinese students overseas.” Zhu understands: “If society does not accept our students, it will mean we have failed.” On the other hand, if SUSTC prevails, he says, “it can be an example for the whole country.” 《Science》原文： http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6026/161.full
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