http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25365912-25192,00.html Mark Dodgson | April 22, 2009 AMONG all of the discussion about China's role in the new economic order following the global financial crisis, little attention has been directed to its future contributions in science and innovation. What China does in its universities and research institutes will profoundly affect the rest of the world. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's review of China's innovation policy last year reveals a picture of astonishing achievement as the country becomes an important player in many areas of science and technology. Government, business and the research sector have increased their commitment to science and engineering and have become more adept at working together. National research and development spending has increased by about 20 per cent annually since 1999. China is second only to the US in publications on nanotechnology. The growth in student numbers has been explosive. From 1998 to 2004, undergraduate enrolment in colleges and universities increased from 300,000 to 13.3million. In 1985 about 75,000 people studied engineering in the US and China. By 2004, the figure in the US was 65,000. In China it was nearly 425,000. Such rapid development, and the personal, institutional and policy changes it demands, has not been easy. Many significant challenges remain. In one year alone, 1999, the number of new students in the higher education system increased by about 50 per cent. Double-digit growth in admission continued until recently. University mergers, expansions of disciplines and setting up branch campuses have compounded the difficulties of managing this growth. This has generated new problems in maintaining academic quality and balancing teaching and research. Since 1998, leading research universities such as Peking have received large injections of government funds in efforts to improve their research performance to world-class levels. One policy issue is the range of universities to be included in the Government's substantial investments to develop world-class universities. Initially the view was this would include a group of nine, but it has increased to more than 24. Regional governments have ensured that investment in leading universities in main cities is matched in their local institutions. University researchers face new expectations. They are encouraged to build connections with industry, seek industrial funding and establish hi-tech firms. While there has been a cultural change in universities as staff recognise the benefits of being market-savvy, the challenge lies in establishing new forms of research-industry engagement that industry finds attractive but allows universities to continue to focus on their core mission. There have been increasing criticisms of the ways the university system's emphasis on the commercialisation of research has distracted them from generating and disseminating knowledge. Leading universities, such as Tsinghua, are exploring new strategies and, for example, have consolidated extensive spin-off activities under the guidance of a single shareholding company. In an article in Nature on July 24 last year, Lan Xue from Tsinghua University poses the question of whether Chinese researchers are going to be distracted by Western research models. He argues the concentration of effort on publishing in a limited number of English language journals is detrimental to the study of Chinese problems and the dissemination of research to Chinese audiences. Policy co-ordination remains difficult. China has a Ministry of Science and Technology, a Ministry of Education and a powerful and influential National Development and Reform Commission. There is continual discussion about the relative contributions of the universities, the research institutes of the China Academy of Sciences, and the more than 2000 industrial research institutes corporatised after 1998. Policymakers are learning how difficult it is to integrate science, technology and innovation policy with a whole-of-government approach. The global financial crisis will cause substantial upheaval. Problems will arise as the vast numbers of new graduates educated during recent years struggle to find jobs. Company research budgets will be cut. The OECD review refers to the need to move from sustained to sustainable growth and there is an urgent requirement for better research into the enduring environmental legacies of China's economic development. The political discourse in China refers to harmonious growth and there is a strong imperative for inclusive development to overcome increasing income disparities, socially and regionally. The transformation of science and innovation in China experienced during the past two decades has resulted from strong political leadership. The Government will need to deal with these emerging circumstances in new and imaginative ways. The ways Chinese universities and research institutes address these challenges, domestically and with international partnerships, has enormous consequences for research globally. Mark Dodgson is director of the Technology and Innovation Management Centre at the University of Queensland business school.
标签: 中国科技创新
