The Chinese student protests putting ‘independent’ college merger plans on hold
- Violence erupted at several campuses in eastern China in opposition to an overhaul of the for-profit tertiary education system
- Critics say the ‘independent’ universities are badly managed but students fear their degrees will be downgraded
At first the students petitioned local governments for information about the future of the colleges they attended.
With no clarification from the authorities, thousands of the students mounted protests on campus earlier this month, clashing with police and security guards, according to footage and accounts posted online.
The protests started at Zhejiang University of Technology’s Zhijiang College on June 4, before spilling over the next day to three other independent colleges in the province.
In Jiangsu, protesters at Zhongbei College affiliated with Nanjing Normal University detained their college head for more than 30 hours, according to Nanjing police. Protests broke out on five campuses in neighbouring Jiangsu provinces in the next few days.
To pacify the students, education departments in Jiangsu and Zhejiang announced suspension of the reform plan.
