Chinese universities must wake up and modernise or be left further behind
David Ho says if Chinese universities are to raise their game, they must first modernise not just the way professors teach, but also how the institutions are run, to inspire a love of learning
Why haven't Chinese universities produced more world-class scholars and innovators? My first-hand experience in China points to three adverse factors: outmoded teaching methods, autocratic academic governance, and administrative "bureaucratism". These factors, rather than a lack of money, are the stumbling blocks that have frustrated attempts to ensure Chinese universities are among the best in the world.
In my time visiting academic institutions in China since 1971, I have been witness to dramatic changes that have taken place in response to the political climate in which they operate.
As a visiting professor at one ranking university in Beijing not long ago, I found the students very bright and, given proper guidance from professors, eager to learn. However, there were some serious impediments to learning.
Walking round the campus, I noticed many students, especially those in large lecture rooms, dozing off, playing computer games, reading newspapers, doing their own work, and so forth, without paying the slightest attention to what the lecturers were saying. Yet the lecturers went on talking, oblivious to the students' inattention. Students say that such disrespectful inattention is common throughout China. What has the docile, obedient and deferential Chinese student become?
In my teaching career spanning over 40 years, I have not seen such student behaviour anywhere else. Neither have I seen such a blasé attitude from lecturers. Do they have no self-respect? Apparently, they have not yet learned from the sayings of Mao Zedong , that "There are teachers who ramble on and on when they lecture; they should let their students doze off … Rather than keeping your eyes open and listening to boring lectures, it is better to get some refreshing sleep. You don't have to listen to nonsense."
So, in reality, dozing off in class may have been prevalent for a long time. Overall, there seems to be a mutual and pervasive lack of respect and trust between professors and students, symptomatic of the uninspiring, troubled learning environment found in Chinese universities. Of course, not all professors are uninspired and uninspiring. In any case, students learn in spite of, not because of, boring professors; and they do sparkle in response to those who inspire.
I must also temper this bleak description with empathy for both teachers and students, who feel helpless in the face of the autocratic and bureaucratic environment in which they function.
