China’s US$35.5 billion research fund needs more precision to win hi-tech race: minister
Education Minister Huai Jinpeng briefs NPC Standing Committee on funding initiative’s successes but says more work required
China’s system of cultivating talent needs an overhaul if it is to serve Beijing’s ambitions of being an education power, and its universities lag far behind their peers in international appeal, the top legislature has heard.
Education Minister Huai Jinpeng told a meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee last week that the country should explore new ways to set up academic disciplines.
These should to “more precisely” address the needs of national strategies while encouraging international academic exchanges and collaborations, he said, according to a media release on the November 5 meeting from the NPC’s website.
“The opening up of our education sector faces severe challenges. Compared with foreign counterparts, our universities have a relatively big gap in attracting [overseas] talent,” said Huai according to the release, which did not elaborate.
Beijing’s tighter restrictions on information and international exchanges in recent years – in response to what it describes as increasing risks of espionage by the US and its allies – have generated complaints about China’s universities at home and abroad.
Huai also noted that a lack of teaching depth in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and generative artificial intelligence had impeded Beijing’s efforts to take part in global education governance.
