[Epoch Times, May 10, 2022](The Epoch Times reporters Ning Haizhong and Luo Ya reported) Renmin University of China, Nanjing University and many other universities have recently announced their withdrawal from the international university rankings. The official media said it “reflects the autonomy and courage of Chinese universities, Chinese education and Chinese culture”. Scholars believe that these colleges and universities withdrew because of their poor international rankings and because of their respect for face. If this situation becomes a trend in mainland colleges and universities, it will cause education and technology to stagnate.
The Central Broadcasting Network of the Communist Party of China reported on May 9 that the “Renmin University of China (hereinafter referred to as the National People’s Congress) has withdrawn from the international university rankings” reported on the Internet, which was verified after verification. In addition to Renmin University of China, Nanjing University and Lanzhou University have also withdrawn from the “International University Rankings”.
On May 8, a commentator’s article published by the Central Broadcasting Corporation of the Communist Party of China stated that several universities in the mainland have successively stopped cooperating with the World University Ranking Agency. The article mentioned: “Building a world-class university with Chinese characteristics should not follow others, simply take foreign universities as the standard and model, but take root in the land of China and blaze a new path to build a world-class university with Chinese characteristics. .”
This quote, from a speech by Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping when he “inspected” Renmin University of China two weeks ago, seemed to confirm that the university’s withdrawal from the ranking was related to Xi’s instructions.
The news that a number of universities, including Renmin University of China, had dropped out of the international university rankings was trending on Weibo last weekend. However, all the comments in the comment area are supportive of the school’s withdrawal.
According to the mainland self-media “Academic Observation” published on May 8, in the latest QS World University Rankings, Renmin University of China ranked 601st in the world; mainland Chinese universities ranked only 31st. In the 2022 Times World University Rankings, Renmin University of China ranks behind Zhejiang Normal University, Guangzhou University, Guangdong University of Technology and other universities. Renmin University of China ranks 19th in the country in the 2022 China University Rankings by Soft Science.
The aforementioned report by China Central Broadcasting Corporation quoted people familiar with the matter as saying, “The withdrawal of universities such as Renmin University of China from the so-called ‘international university rankings’ reflects the autonomy and courage of Chinese universities, Chinese education, and Chinese culture.”
Li Yuanhua, a former associate professor at Capital Normal University, told The Epoch Times on May 10 that Renmin University of China was not a top-notch university in China.
“What kind of confidence do you have? It was a school under the CCP’s system, and then some other schools were forced into it. And because of the suppression of the CCP, the humanities department was closed during the Cultural Revolution. Its international ranking is so It’s ugly, you simply quit, but you have to give yourself a reason to quit, and you will drag the CCP’s nationalism, but aren’t you going to the world? Quitting is just a lack of self-confidence.”
Li Yuanhua said that because many of its professional settings are related to the ideology of the CCP and are not international, “if the paper is published, who publishes your Marxism-Leninism internationally? Some other humanities are also restricted. Although in China it is The ranking is very high, but in terms of the world, it must be ranked low, and they quit mainly because of their own good face.”
Li Yuanhua said that although some colleges and universities said they would withdraw, Chinese universities were very happy to have a high ranking in overseas rankings because they were persuasive, and people in China did not believe their own rankings. “Then why didn’t Tsinghua University and Peking University quit?”
He said the international rankings of colleges and universities involved different criteria, and some universities had their rankings up and down. In terms of academics, it depends on the international influence, including whether there are international students, international teachers, the citation rate of papers, and quantitative things.
“But there is a basic indicator, which is the school’s ability to research and disseminate knowledge. Everyone cites your teachers’ papers, which means your level is high. It also includes the direction of students after graduation, including whether you are in the local area or The influence in the world may be different in different rankings.” Li Yuanhua said.
Scholars: Colleges and universities planning according to the party’s will may cause education to be as stagnant as it was during the Cultural Revolution
Wu Zuolai, a scholar based in the United States, told The Epoch Times on May 10 that the CCP should want to derail the so-called Western education in the field of education, that is, to not want Western standards. In particular, Renmin University of China was established during the Yan’an period of the Communist Party, and its party spirit is particularly strong, unlike Tsinghua University and Peking University, which are related to the late Qing Dynasty or the United States.
He believes that Renmin University of China may be guiding domestic universities to return the sovereignty of evaluation to the system of the Communist Party, and then conduct evaluations according to its own evaluation system.
However, Wu Zuolai believes that there has always been a large number of fraudulent evaluations of mainland colleges and universities, and it is meaningless to withdraw or not.
“For so many years, the evaluation of Chinese universities, whether domestic or international, is actually a lot of fraud. For example, the number of papers published, the number of publications, universities spend a lot of money in pursuit of these data, producing papers in a bubble style. and publications, and deliberately citing each other to increase the school’s citation performance. Under these conditions, it makes little sense for Communist universities to participate or not to participate in (international) assessments.”
Wu Zuo said that Xi Jinping started to implement his idea through Renmin University of China, that China’s education is planned and developed according to the party’s will, which will cause another problem:
“Such a large number of university professors will not pursue publishing articles internationally, nor will they go to study abroad or attend international conferences. That is the problem. If you continue like this, especially in the field of science, if you are not in line with international standards , in the future, China will make a big step backward in the field of education. Just like the Cultural Revolution, the Cultural Revolution made education and technology retrograde and stagnant for 30 years. If you still do it now, there will only be one result, whether it is scientific research or teaching in universities, and China’s technology sector will be stagnant, exactly like the Cultural Revolution.”
Wu Zuolai believes that the human science education culture is developed in the process of mutual agitation, mutual exchange, mutual reference and learning. No country or nation can shut down the country in an era of informationization and globalization, otherwise the final results will not be universally recognized.
He believes that the CCP’s approach is very ignorant, and it will be a very big blow to China’s education and technology.
Wu Zuolai said that in the future, the CCP may have some institutional and policy control over Chinese students studying abroad, which will not be easy.
“Look at AP exams now, because of the epidemic, the exam is not taken. A large number of students preparing for the exam in China cannot get this result and can’t enter foreign universities. So now the consequences are very serious.” Appeared.”
On May 6, thousands of high school students in China learned that the CCP’s zero-epidemic lockdown would prevent them from taking the AP (Advanced Placement) exam. These exams can increase candidates’ chances of enrolling at a U.S. or European university.
Responsible editor: Gao Jing#