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Knowledge industry expands
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Liu Fuzhong
FOR many years, education in China was funded almost entirely by the government. However that is changing throughout the country, especially in Shenzhen, where there are only two institutes of higher learning categorized as “government-sponsored". An increasing number of educational programmes are being offered on a profit-making basis. Indeed, locals have started to view education as a service business where the students are customers.
A total of 800,000 adults in Shenzhen signed up with a wide variety of educational programmes offered by non-government-sponsored educational organizations last year. And the number of non-government-sponsored programmes that can lead to diplomas or degrees has risen to 152.
According to Mai Zhipai, vice-director of adult education with the Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau, that number does not include specific skill training and universities outside Shenzhen operating with licences from provincial, or higher, authorities.
Mai said that these educational programmes run by universities outside Shenzhen, private businesses and Sino-foreign partnerships, offer training programmes in many areas including computer science, business management, accounting, languages and arts.
Supplementing official education
“It is impossible for local universities to offer training for locals who are already well advanced in their careers," Mai said. “The government supports educational activities organized by outside universities, private and professional organizations as an important supplement to government-sponsored educational programmes."
Prestigious Beijing University is one of the many inland universities to offer tailored courses in Shenzhen. Over 1,600 locals enrolled in their professional training programmes.
According to Professor Shi Shouxu, director of the Shenzhen Institute of Beijing University, the university has teamed up with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to offer specialized training and research in Shenzhen. “We believe that it is important for leading universities to provide training and intellectual support for Shenzhen. People here want to learn. We must become flexible enough to give people access to the latest research information and tailor-made training," Professor Shi said.
She also said that the university even offers company-specific training programmes to local real estate and information companies. “We invite top researchers in their areas and present them with useful information and concepts to facilitate their management processes."
Beijing University recently launched a senior executive MBA programme in collaboration with Shenzhen Foreign Investment Enterprises Association for local business executives in a bid to promote management training in Shenzhen.
Even though it costs 8,000 yuan (US$960) to join the two-month programme, a total of 46 students signed up. Most of the students say that it is worthwhile to attend the class because they need exactly the sort of specialized analysis and help from lecturers who are senior researchers in their areas who are part of the course.
What's more, industry organizations like the Shenzhen Foreign Investment Enterprises Association are sponsoring such professional training programmes as part of their service to their member companies.
However, not all training organizations are big and specialized. Actually the majority of the training organizations are small and cater to people who need basic training in computer science, business management, accounting and languages.
Many offer also help to people who wish to accomplish their university degrees by self-study. This open university programme is the largest university-level training programme in China and certainly in Shenzhen.
As Mai said, these educational programmes are all important means for people to gain knowledge and improve themselves. “The government encourages and support these adult educational activities. But it will also strengthen measures to regulate the emerging training market," he said.
Good and bad
Nowadays if you take a look at the newspaper, you will be overwhelmed by the training advertisements. One may feel good, on the one hand, about the easy availability of training services in Shenzhen, but on the other hand it can be difficult to choose the right training programme.
It may take some discerning vision and trial and error to find the right classes. When Wang Jiangshan, a senior engineer with SEG Hitachi Co Ltd, ran into problems in his day-to-day project management, he knew that only systematic training could help him solve his problems. Then he started looking for help.
He said that he was surprised to find newspaper advertisements for exactly the sort of programme he was looking for. The training company was in fact small and little known.
He made a few phone calls and talked to the professor, who was from the United States, and decided that this was indeed what he needed. He immediately signed up with the programme. Eventually he earned a diploma.
“Project management is a new subject and is only offered by a small number of universities in China. I would not have learned all the necessary management tools and concepts if I had not found the programme," he said.
However there is some question teaching quality at such centres, and many complain of a lack of truth in advertising.
Some students complain that they were misled by advertisements and found only poorly maintained facilities and underqualified teachers.
“Some training centres try to lure students by hyping their services," Mai said. “This is as much a violation of consumer rights as in other markets."
Local educational authorities have recently instituted an advertising rule that requires approval of all advertising certificates and content before any training centre can publish an ad.
Training: a burgeoning market
Economists say that the best way to organize resources is the free market, where supply and demand determine prices. Local government is now shaping new market rules to direct the development of the city's training market.
“Like it or not, training is a service, which must be subject to market rules," Mai said. “The government has made tough rules to raise the bar for potential training companies wishing to enter the market. Yet the government's role is to create a level playing field for competition and ensure consumers' rights. The content and format of training will be left to the power of market."
The local educational bureau annually reviews qualification of existing training centres and renews the licences every three years.
“This encourages local trainers to keep up-to-date with the latest developments to stay ahead in competition. And the government sees to it they do a good job in their areas," he said.
David Songhurst, a human resource researcher with Wolverhampton University in Britain, said on a recent research tour to Shenzhen that the privately run training organizations definitely contributed a great deal to the city's productivity.
“In Britain, we have government-sponsored programmes to help workers systematically improve their skills because we believe that training is one of the most effective ways to improve productivity. Obviously private organizations and universities are doing the job and more efficiently in the market style."
Foreign training businesses still off-limits
With all the positive things the open training market promises, the market is still technically closed to foreign training organizations.
According to Vice-Director Mai, the current rule still forbids foreign companies from operating proprietary training businesses in China.
Despite the rule, foreign universities and training organizations still play a major part in the local training market. Many of them have teamed up local organizations to get around the regulatory obstacles.
These foreign trainers excel in language, computer and network system and business training. The Delter Institute, a partnership between Canada's Delter College and the Shenzhen Youth Institute, offers English training in a total English environment. Almost its entire faculty consists of well-trained teachers and native speakers of English. Fosco Laboratory is a collaborative computer and network training programme developed by local computer manufacturer Fosconn and US giant Cisco Systems. A host of leading foreign universities are offering MBA courses in Shenzhen in co-operation with local partners.
Mai said, however, that that rule will change when China joins the World Trade Organization.
Education has always been viewed as one of the top priorities in local government's agenda. In a city of four million people where the average age of residents is 30, continued learning is undoubtedly an important means to bolster productivity. Local people will go back to the classroom from time to time as knowledge renews itself in shorter and shorter cycles. This intellectual market is in every sense a significant market for sustained social and economic development.
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