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Opinion | A US-China decoupling in higher education does not serve the development goals of either
- As the US and China double down on national security, they risk undoing decades of international academic cooperation and exchange
- In the process, they are likely to undermine economic growth and social stability
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National security concerns risk nudging the economies of the US and China back a step. In China, national security is behind the push for tech self-reliance. In the US, it is driving an increase in government oversight of university research.
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Mass higher education is a key pillar of national security, given that its long-term safeguards are human capital and productivity.
The United States is on the verge of yielding its world ranking in college-educated workers. According to data cited in a recent report for the American Enterprise Institute, China is expected to have more college graduates of working age than the United States by 2025 and more than double by 2040.
China has several high-ranking universities and the largest higher education system in the world. But its system of higher education is qualitatively weak. At second- and third-tier institutions, academic staff are still poorly credentialed, infrastructure is inadequate, and educational practices that spur creativity are lacking.
With levels of income inequality close to those in the US, opening up opportunities for millions of young Chinese to go to college strengthens social stability. But low-income, rural, and ethnic minority students populate lower-tier colleges. They reap fewer rewards from mass higher education than the children of the urban middle class.
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In any higher education system, relevant knowledge and transferable skills determine the productivity of a workforce. Yet Chinese higher education has been better at supporting a common national identity than a dynamic learning culture.
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