Strengthening of the legal aspects concerning the tuition charging system of higher education

Higher education institutes charging tuition fees is a way for the educated to share the cost of higher education. Higher education is an important method to improve citizens’ qualifications and quality which in turn will promote the sustainable development of the whole society. In this sense, higher education should provide a service for the majority of people and with the continuing popularization of higher education, more and more students from poor families will enter HEIs to study. Tuition is not supposed to deprive students from poor families of the right to enjoy higher education. Therefore, promoting the reform in the tuition charging system of higher education, perfecting all concerned supplementary measures and the preventing rapid rise of tuition fees are the main concerns. Experiences tell us that it is impractical to prevent the tuition charging system from being affected by human factors solely by relying on the coordination of policies. We must prepare a series of law and regulations, including higher education tuition charge provisions, cost measurement methods, etc., and perfect the higher education tuition charging publication system, hearing system, tuition usage supervision mechanism, etc., so as to make the higher education tuition charging system fair and legal.

Further perfection of the financial assistance system to college students

China has established a college student financial assistance system including scholarships, loans, grants, allowances, and tuition waivers. As the popularization of higher education goes further, college students’ demand for financial assistance will be greater. Therefore, the college student financial assistance system should get ready for the new demand, converting perception of higher education, strengthening its reform force, expanding fund raising and assistance channels, innovating assistance mechanisms and perfecting itself. It is required to improve government fiscal input to enable more students to get access to scholarship; to expand comprehensively the channels and sources of student assistance funds, to encourage more enterprises and individuals to set up college student assistance funds through such measures as tax waivers or replacements; to set up more scholarships and grants as well as to gather public capital to set up education charity funds to help students in poverty; to further perfect national student loan policies and assistance measures such as source place loans, locally-granted loans, loan commuting, thereby helping students go through education through the perfection of the higher education assistance system.

Combining unity with diversity

In the past 30 years, the National College Entrance Examination System has been under constant experiment and change. This system will last for a rather long term. Although there are certain differences in subject design and different minimum entrance scores are required for different types of HEIs, it is difficult to meet the needs of different HEIs at different levels to choose proper candidates, just relying on the ranking of entrance exam scores. Besides, it is hard to measure the comprehensive quality of one student, evaluating his quality via one single test. As a matter of fact, the result of the college entrance examination is only one of the key indicators for the HEIs recruitment of new students. Therefore, in order to achieve the diversity of higher education, it is necessary to set up different talent selection mechanisms for different HEIs at different levels, with being uniform as a prerequisite. In this way, the university recruitment examination system is able to suit the diversity of society and at the same time to reflect the needs of students’ individual orientation.

Establishment of more human-oriented recruitment and admission procedures

The functions of higher education are being expanded, from turning out talents solely for the country’s modernization to meeting the needs of citizens for higher education. For candidates to choose an HEI and a major which they dream of is a right nobody can deprive them of. They have the right to be informed of the relevant information, to choose their desired HEIs and majors and to enjoy equality of recruitment. Therefore, the closed recruitment management pattern needs to be reformed to set up an open path for the communication between candidates, recruitment management sectors and HEIs. In this way, candidates will be able to be informed of universities’ recruitment and admission information. When candidates are informed of the transfer process of their documents and of recruitment, the chances for them to be accepted by their desired HEIs and majors will increase. Now that China is aware of this fact, some provinces have issued temporary policies to allow candidates to check the transfer condition of their own documents at certain institutions.

Expansion and practice of the independent recruitment power of HEIs

Expanding the autonomy of HEIs in recruitment is a goal of higher education reform. But in practice, it is very difficult for HEIs to obtain autonomy for planning, examination, and enrollment during this process. Currently, HEIs can only recruit students based on the ranking of students’ test scores within a certain scale set by the education administrative departments regardless of it being a regular college entrance examination or college entrance examination for adults. HEIs cannot actively select suitable students according to their own school features, orientations and the requirements of subjects and majors. In order to implement independent recruitment for HEIs, the government should transform the direct administration of entrance examination and recruitment to indirect administration and micro-administration to macro-administration, to reduce direct administrative interference in the recruitment of HEIs to ensure that they can prepare specific recruitment standards, test methods and quality control systems.

Administrating entrance exams and recruitment by law

Over the past 30 years, the college entrance examination has been conducted according to specific administrative regulations. In terms of legislation, it lacks authority. As a social undertaking closely related to the state’s economic development and citizen’s life, the examination must be constrained and regulated under the national law. It urgent to work out relevant laws and administrate the examination and recruitment accordingly, not to only improve the authority of the exam, clearly define the rights, duties, and liabilities of each concerned party, but also to help normalization of the exam to effectively control malpractice and corrupt dealings in the recruitment process.

Perfecting incentive policy and encouraging students to work in remote areas and at the grassroots level

Big cities and the Eastern Area, which are developed talent highlands, are attracting the majority of graduates, which results in difficulty in finding employment. By contrast, the vast Western Area, small towns and countries are in urgent need of expertise, providing great employment opportunities for graduates. In order to encourage graduates to work in these areas as well as at grassroots level, the government has issued a series of favorable policies, but with few responses. Tough conditions and low payment may contribute to such a result, but defects in the incentive mechanism and lack of systematization of the existing policies are also contributing factors. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the incentive policies, bringing the functions of benefits mechanisms (such as tax waivers, special allowances, pay rises, bonuses, family care etc.) into effect in a real sense and motivating college graduates to work in specific regions and at grassroots level. The relevant policies are supposed to be specific, clear-cut and easy to operate. Moreover, the government should speed up its process of law making to encourage college graduates to be engaged in remote areas and at grassroots level and to realize the systematization of policies so as to safeguard the benefits of beneficiaries.

Deepening education and teaching reform and training college students’ entrepreneurship

In order to ease the increasingly severe employment situation and help realize students’ self-development, the government has taken a series of measures to encourage self-employment of graduates. But they have not worked well, which is partly due to the shortage of funds and partly to students’ lack of mental preparation, skills and courage. The solution to the latter problem has to rely on the entrepreneurship education. Therefore, HEIs should deepen education reform to develop students’ entrepreneurship spirit and capacity. First, HEIs should involve entrepreneurship education into their normal curriculum throughout the whole teaching process, emphasizing its crucial role in education. Second, the content of entrepreneurship education has to be centered on the goal of developing entrepreneurship quality, providing students with the most useful and advanced knowledge and developing the skills which they are in great need of. Third, teaching methods must be directive. As is known to all, students from different HEIs and majors with different sexes, capacities, interests and personalities show different attitudes to entrepreneurship. Hence entrepreneurship education should adapt to the individuality of students to develop a variety of creative talents. Fourth, HEIs should actively build an entrepreneurship education atmosphere and environment on campus.

Energetic development of the college graduate employment market and promotion of employment quantity and quality

A number of college graduates are quite aimless when they seek employment while employers are just waiting for graduates to knock at the door of their office or are casting their nets everywhere without direction. This situation is mainly caused by the imbalance of information which is in turn caused by the lack in unity and normalization in the graduate employment market. The present operation is that there are labor markets run by labor departments, talent markets run by personnel departments, and graduate employment markets run by education departments. Among the employment markets held by education departments, some are cross-provincial, some are within a certain province, and some are held by the joint effort of certain regions and HEIs. Chances are that such a situation will lead to information distortion and interruption in the process of transmission and feedback.

In order to achieve smooth transmission of information, it is required to get rid of such a situation in which information is divided and scattered. Different markets at different levels should conduct more communication and blend in with one another, making full use of the Internet to set up a specific college graduate employment information network covering the whole country so as to realize complete sharing of information and resources. Administration sectors such as education departments, personnel departments, labor departments and organization departments should strengthen mutual communication and coordination to perfect relevant systems and provisions, strengthen the supervision of the employment mechanism in different sectors and fields to regulate their action and eliminate illegal competition to create a fair competing environment for graduates, and to improve both the quantity and quality of college graduates’ employment.

Reform in relevant social systems and ensuring the legal rights of college graduates

Although the government has cleared a large number of barriers in employment policies, there still exist a few social systems preventing reasonable mobilization of talents. In order to promote graduates’ employment and reasonable mobilization, such barriers must be cleared away to ensure the legal rights of graduates. First, there are some policies affecting the employment of college graduates in the present house-hold registration system, which must be abolished to totally break the barriers between different regions and realize free mobilization of graduates. Second, an integrated social security system covering both urban and rural areas must be set up as soon as possible. In particular, the government should make efforts to ensure the benefits of college students who work in rural areas and non-state-owned businesses, including housing, medical care, unemployment insurance, etc. The personnel system, with the post-appointment system as core policy, is to be perfected to abolish equalitarianism and set up a flexible employment system and provide easier and smoother channels for the employment of college graduates.

Strengthening of government macro-control and implementation of autonomy of HEIs

The reform of the administration system of higher education involves much more than the change in ownership of HEIs; instead, it should emphasize the change of government functions and implementation of independent operation of HEIs by law to set up a mechanism for HEIs to achieve self-development and self-restriction. Government functions are to be changed from direct administration into macro-administration in planning, scales, budget, quality and preparation of standards for the establishment of subjects, degrees, etc., with the help of legislation, financial allocation, information service, policy instruction and necessary administrative measures. This is a crucial task facing the reform of the higher education management system. Once the government function is changed, the requirement for the administrative capacity will be higher, instead of being lower. Therefore, at the same time, it is necessary to improve government’s capacity, to emphasize the improvement of professionalization of administrative team and macro management efficiency, so as to free the government from micro management and enable HEIs to enjoy legal status and rights for independent operation. Only by changing government functions can HEIs enjoy sound development after the reform. It should be recognized that the realization of independent operation of HEIs is required by the establishment of a socialist market economy. The more the government interferes in HEIs’ operation, the more difficult it will be for HEIs to realize independent operation. Therefore, to relieve HEIs from subordination to government, to regulate the government–HEI relationship by law and to realize HEIs’ independent operation will be a great step forward in the reform of the higher education management system.

Strengthening higher education’s international interaction and promoting internationalized management

With the promotion of integration of the world, Chinese higher education pays more attention to internationalization. Since the reform and opening up of China, Chinese higher education has seen increasing internationalization. Since China’s entry into the WTO, higher education in China has undergone unprecedented communication with its counterparts in other countries. The internationalization of higher education should include the internationalization of management. For a long time Chinese higher education has been updating its management philosophy, mainly by borrowing and adopting foreign experiences. So far, Chinese higher education has become an influential power in international education and its management has been largely improved.

Perfection of internal management system of HEIs

To further perfect the inner management system of HEIs and form a scientific and effective system is a must. It is necessary to improve institution regulations by combining the internal and external relationships of the HEIs to realize legal operation. It is also necessary to perfect the president’s responsibility under the leadership of a party committee, promoting the internal management system including leadership of the party committee, presidents’ responsibility, professor’s supervision and democratic management. By developing a democratic atmosphere and maintaining ‘publication of school affairs,’ teaching staff can be motivated to be devoted to the development of the HEIs. A new scientific research system beneficial to interdisciplinary development can be set up by further reforming the structures of academic organizations at the basic level of HEIs and designing the targets and orientations, functions and resource allocation methods of schools, departments, centers and research institutions, etc., as a whole. It is necessary to deepen the reform of the personnel system by implementing a classified management of staff and open recruitment of new staff, striving to set up a personnel system meeting the needs of a socialist market economy and in accordance with the rules of higher education and special features of teachers. Reform of the distribution system is to be promoted, thereby setting up an HEI payment system based of performance and promoting to excellent talents.

Improvement in the quality of administrative staff

To improve the quality of management is an urgent matter in the reform of the management system of HEIs. As the scale of HEIs gets remarkably larger, how to improve the utilization of resources and assets and how to realize the coordination of different sectors are crucial problems which remain to be solved in the reform of the internal management system of HEIs. Owing to its complex organization and various functions, HEI management itself now becomes a specific subject. In order to meet the requirement of normalization, institutionalization and high efficiency, to promote professional and efficient management has become an imperative. High-quality and highly efficient management has to take professionalization as a prerequisite to set up high-quality administrative staff. Various professional training and on-the-job research should be organized to maintain professional management and improve management capacity. To develop and set up a scientific assessment and incentive mechanism is a reliable guarantee for the professionalization of administrative staff.

Emancipating the minds and innovating personnel philosophy at HEIs

After years of efforts, the personnel system reform of higher education has made some breakthroughs in terms of philosophy and the thought of ‘institution ownership’ has been changed. But in general the philosophy of the system is still rather conservative, which leads to a slow reform process. Substantial transformation is yet to be achieved. Reform requires change in traditional concepts of the personnel system, the implementation of successful experience in the reform of the domestic personnel system and awareness of the present system’s defects and shortcomings. We must borrow successful ideas from developed countries and enterprises on personnel systems to construct modern and advanced personnel systems for Chinese HEIs as the basis for the design and implementation of the reform.

Constructing a human-oriented modern personnel system at HEIs suitable to the requirement of a harmonious society

To construct a human-oriented harmonious society is the social development goal in the new era of reform and opening up put forward by the central government. HEIs are a crucial force for the construction of a harmonious society. Under the traditional personnel system of HEIs, ‘Everybody eats the same amount of food and earns the same amount of money regardless of their performance.’ This equalitarianism has been a great barrier for the harmonious higher learning atmosphere as institutions have become a cozy home for all staff. Actually, such a system is against the basic organizational attribute of HEIs. The reform of the personnel system is supposed to be in accordance with the organization characteristics of HEIs and to be human-oriented to meet the requirements of modern society, to reform the employment system, working system and distribution system so as to build up a personnel system suitable to the construction of a harmonious society.

Strengthening the openness of higher education’s personnel system and promoting mobility of talents

For a long time the personnel system of HEIs lacked openness, resulting in a low turnover rate of staff. Besides visits among different institutions, other types of staff turnover were obliged. The lack of openness in the personnel system has to take the responsibility for it. The proper turnover of the staff helps improve the overall quality of teaching staff and promotes the operation of HEIs and education quality. Therefore, in reform of the personnel system, it is necessary to strengthen the openness of the system to form a mobility mechanism among talents. It is necessary to employ professional staff with working experience from all walks of life, set up an international talent employment mechanism and adopt professional and overseas talents. As a result, the internationalization of staff will be improved to enable Chinese higher education to better face the challenge of globalization and internationalization.

Optimizing incentive mechanism

The incentive mechanism is an important section of the personnel system, exerting great influence on the motivation and job satisfaction of higher education staff. Job satisfaction is not only concerned with salary, but also with justice. The incentive mechanism is a scale to measure staff’s sense of fair play. Therefore, the reform of the personnel system should pay great attention to the construction of an incentive mechanism which encourages equality so as to promote the operation quality of HEIs. In personnel assessment, it is necessary to prepare classified assessment measures to improve its efficiency based on staff’s work content, task requirements and difficulties they may face, combined with the features of different HEIs.