Laws of the People's Republic of China

Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Relevant Issues concerning Current Sino-foreign Cooperative Education

Jiao Wai Zong [2006] No.5 February 7,2006

The education offices or commissions of all the provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government,

Since the promulgation and implementation of the Regulation on Sino-foreign Cooperative Education and its detailed implementation measures, the Sino-foreign cooperative education has been going into the path of development regularly step by step under the direction of the state guidelines for expanding the opening up, regulating the education, administrating in accordance with the law, and promoting the development. For the purpose of promoting the development of Sino-foreign cooperative education in a steady and healthy way, and aiming at the existing prominent problems in the current Sino-foreign cooperative education we hereby put forward opinions specifically as follows: :

I.

Insisting on the principle of public welfare nature of Sino-foreign cooperative education. Education is a glorious social public welfare undertaking with the ultimate goal of talent training. Education service is not trade in goods, and it is also different from common service trade. We shall acquire a good understanding of the tenet and nature of Sino-foreign cooperative education, and strictly restrain the acts of arbitrary charges and high charges in the name of Sino-foreign cooperative education, and prevent the tendency of educational industrialization.

II.

Running schools in accordance with the law, and regulating the administration. We shall enhance political sensitivity and build up the consciousness of educational sovereign firmly, so as to maintain national security, social stability, and normal educational order. We shall protect the lawful rights and interests of the operators running Sino-foreign cooperative schools, Sino-foreign cooperative educational institutions, and the teachers and students thereof according to law. During the process of Sino-foreign cooperative education, we shall pay attention to strengthening the predominant position of Chinese educational institutions in accordance with the law, and firmly implement the educational policies of the state.

III.

Insisting on the guidance of the policy of introduction of high quality educational resources, and strengthening capability construction. When developing Sino-foreign cooperative education, we shall, inosculating with the demand for various talents in the economic development of state, local, and regional and the requirements of schools for subject development, encourage cooperative education to be carried out with overseas universities with high level and universities with comparative advantage in subject and fields which are badly needed, weak, and vacant in China, and direct the Sino-foreign cooperative education to develop toward to the middle west areas step by step. Chinese educational institutions shall develop Sino-foreign cooperative education in accordance with their own orientations and aims, to prevent the phenomenon of blindly comparison, rushing into mass action regardless of objective conditions, and low-level repetition. The universities and colleges under the key construction of the state shall pay more attention to do a good work on selecting partners, selecting cooperation models and contents of cooperation, so as to supply the service for improving the whole level and comprehensive strength of the schools in an overall way.

IV.

Strengthening the quality control over Sino-foreign cooperative education. At present, we shall do a good work of putting emphasis on quality control mainly over Sino-foreign cooperative education in the field of higher education, and maintain the reputation of Sino-foreign cooperative education, and do well the work in the sectors as follows:

1.

Strengthening the management on enrollment and admission. The higher diploma education in a Chinese-foreign cooperative education institution or a project shall be subordinate to the enrollment plan of universities and colleges as established by the state, and shall be separately listed and administered according to the catalogue of enrollment for different specialities within the annual enrollment scale of the universities and colleges, and shall meet the requirements for admission of the same batch of admission at the same region. If the admission plan cannot be fulfilled in the same batch of admission, it shall not be shifted to the next batch. If it is at the postgraduate level, it shall accord with the provisions and procedures of the state for enrollment and admission of postgraduate diploma education. As to the diploma and degree education of a foreign education institution in a Sino-foreign cooperative education institution or project, its admission criterion shall not be inferior to the admission criterion of the foreign educational institution in its native country.

2.

Strengthening management on the fostering process. As to the higher diploma education at or above a bachelor's degree in a Sino-foreign cooperative education institution or a project,, its educational and teaching plan, fostering plan, and length of schooling shall be formulated and implemented in accordance with the relevant state provisions, and a special code of specialities shall be set up for its bachelor's degree. As to the diploma education at or above a bachelor's degree of a foreign educational institution in a Sino-foreign cooperative education institution or a project,, the educational and teaching plan, fostering plan, curriculum provision, and contents of teaching formulated by them jointly shall not be inferior to the criteria and academic requirements of the foreign education institution in its native country. As to implementing both Chinese higher degree education and degree education of a foreign diploma, and issuing Chinese degree and diploma certificates and the degree and diploma certificates of a foreign educational institution in a Sino-foreign cooperative education institution or a project, its fostering aims, fostering requirements, curriculum provision, and contents of teaching shall meet the academic requirements of both parties. Specially for the postgraduate education courses of a foreign educational institution in a Sino-foreign cooperative education institution or a project, all sectors during the process of fostering shall be strict managed so as to guarantee the quality.

3.

Strengthening planning and policy guide to subjects and specialities. We shall study and make guidance catalogue of subjects and specialities for Sino-foreign cooperative education, so as to clarify the subjects and specialities which are encouraged, allowed, restricted, and prohibited by the state.

4.

Strengthening management on the issuance of certificates. As to implementing higher degree education and issuing Chinese degree and diploma certificates in a Sino-foreign cooperative education institution or a project, it shall be implemented strictly in accordance with the relevant state provisions. As to implementing diploma or degree education at or above a bachelor's degree of a foreign educational institution and issuing degree and diploma certificates of a foreign educational institution in a Sino-foreign cooperative education institution or a project, the Chinese educational institution shall have the qualification for carrying out the degree education and diploma granting for the corresponding level and category. The principle of truthfulness and validity shall be followed for the degree and diploma certificates issued by the foreign educational institution, and the degree and diploma certificates shall be the same as those issued by the educational institution in its native country, and admitted in its country.

V.

Strengthening management on adopting the educational model of "double campus" by Sino-foreign cooperative education projects.. A complete or main educational and teaching process for a Sino-foreign cooperative education project shall be implemented within a Chinese educational institution. Where there is real necessity to adopt the educational model of "double campus" to run a Sino-foreign cooperative education project, an administrative license shall be obtained in accordance with law. A Chinese educational institution shall earnestly strengthen the introduction of foreign educational resources in the implementation of such kinds of projects, and make evaluation seriously on the introduced courses of a foreign educational institution, especially the courses replacing those of Chinese degree education. The introduced foreign courses and the core courses of specialities shall be more than one third of the whole courses and the core courses of the Sino-foreign cooperative education project. The number of the core courses of specialities by teachers from the foreign educational institution and the relevant teaching hours, shall be more than one third of all the courses numbers and teaching hours of the Sino-foreign cooperative education project. For any teacher who is employed internationally in the name of the foreign educational institution, his/her level shall be recognized by the foreign educational institution and the Chinese educational institution.

VI.

Strengthening management on charges for Sino-foreign cooperative education. The operators of Sino-foreign cooperative education shall have corresponding capital investment for establishing or running Sino-foreign cooperative educational institutions or projects. The operators who run Sino-foreign cooperative educational institutions or projects shall evaluate the average costs of the Sino-foreign cooperative institutions or projects for fostering a student in a careful and reasonable way, and shall, in accordance with the principle of cost compensation, report to the relevant departments for determination of the charging items and criteria in light of the principle of government pricing. The level of the local economic and social development and the endurance of those being educated shall also be taken into full consideration in the charging criteria, and the proper balance between public education and private education shall also be kept properly. Charges for activities of students exchange conducted only in the form of mutual recognition of credit shall be collected in the light of the normal charging items and criteria of Chinese higher education as the students are studying at domestic schools. Before the state promulgates a uniform policy, each locality shall try to do well in managing the charges of Sino-foreign cooperative education in light of the current administration measures.

The Sino-foreign cooperative education is a component part of the educational undertaking of our country. The administrative department of education at each locality shall earnestly study the new circumstances and new problems occurred in the development of Sino-foreign cooperative education, enrich and perfect the environment of legal and policy constantly, strengthen the overall planning, comprehensive coordination, and micro-management of Sino-foreign cooperative education of its own administrative region, and ensure the Sino-foreign cooperative education so as to provide the service for promotion of the development and reform of education of our country, and enhance international competitiveness of education of our country.