Is Higher Education Already Out of 'Acute Shortage Era'?

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 11, 2002

Is Higher Education Already Out of 'Acute Shortage Era'?

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The already concluded college entrance examination in the Beijing area appeared to be relatively calm. This, of course, has something to do with the guidance of public opinion, more importantly, it is due to the continuous development of higher education, and the steady increase in the number and proportion of enrollment of students, thus the strained supply-and-demand relation between education resources and study pursuers has somewhat alleviated. Examinees, their parents and the whole society are able to take the examination calmly.

Authoritative sources reveal that this year's enrollment ratio will remain at over 70 percent, that is to say, one out of 1.4 persons can be admitted into institutions of higher learning. If private universities and other forms of education are added, then almost all pursuers of studies will have the opportunity to receive different forms of higher education. Media have reported the enrollment ratio in Shanghai, Guangdong and Jiangsu and other economically developed areas is equal to or even higher than that in the Beijing area. Competition in the examination rooms is not so fierce as before.

Compared to the previous low enrollment ratio and intense competition, the current circumstance, featuring "easy entry" but "hard exit" for students in today's universities, seems to have proved that China's higher education has stepped out of the "era of acute shortage".

However, all this has happened, after all, only in Beijing as well as in big cities and developed regions with similar economic and cultural developmental levels. If we cast our eyes over the whole country, we will find the situation is evidently not so sanguine.

Official statistics indicate the enrollment ratio this year is estimated to stand at 52 percent. This figure not only proves the ratio in Shanghai, Beijing and other developed areas is far above the average level of the country; it also implies a wider gap between underdeveloped regions with the ratio lower than the national average and developed areas.

The gap proves that the distribution of education resources between different areas is unbalanced, regions with education resources staying at critical shortage are precisely backward areas in urgent demand for talented people. Given this, a supply-demand balance in the aspects of higher education opportunity and the demand for talents in some regions by no means shows that the country's higher education and personnel training haven't been out of the "era of shortage".

Another latent problem is that along with the further implementation of regionalized distribution of education resources and change in the college fee-collecting system, there will possibly be more students from less developed areas and living in straitened circumstances will find it impossible to receive higher education for a lack of opportunities and financial difficulties. Such phenomena, if allowed to increase, will not only contravene the principle of social justice, but will also be disadvantageous to the development of these areas.

By PD Online Staff Yang Ruoqian

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