After seven years of development, the 100 universities comprising the "211 Project" have taken a leading role in China's higher education.
The "211 Project," which aims to transform 100 universities all over the country into heavyweight, respected institutions, was launched in 1995 and is China's biggest-ever tertiary education programme.
The project covers almost all the country's leading universities, ranging from Tsinghua and Peking universities in Beijing, and Jiaotong and Fudan universities in Shanghai to Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and Jilin University in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin Province.
Accounting for less than 10 per cent of China's total universities, the "211" universities now host 96 per cent of the key national laboratories, according to a recent document issued jointly by the State Development Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education.
These universities offer programmes in 85 per cent of the national key subjects, which are the best developed subjects at China's universities, and they attract 87 per cent of the doctorate-level college professors, the document said.
At these universities, the number of undergraduate, master's-degree and doctoral-degree students accounts for 32 per cent, 69 per cent and 84 per cent of the total number of such students in the country respectively. In addition, the "211" universities have attracted 72 per cent of the funds available for scientific research and possess 54 per cent of all research equipment and facilities among universities in China, the document said.
During China's Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000), more than 10.8 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) was invested in the "211 Project," out of which 2.75 billion yuan (US$333 million) came from the central government. The rest came from local governments and the universities. Another 7.47 billion yuan (US$903 million) went into their infrastructure from relevant departments and local governments.
(China Daily QIN CHUAN 09/05/2002)
