i think this is a scam to hide the real problems in the education system...
people who are not qualified are heading major educational institutions...
they have been put there for ideological reasons instead of academic qualification
one TCM university Dean in southern China actually plagiarize students thesis!
but why was he there in the first place?
because he was part of the the propaganda machineries..
China sacks education minister
Dismissal comes amid rising discontent with ills in the system; deputy to take over
BEIJING: China's legislature has removed the country's unpopular education minister amid widespread public dissatisfaction with the education system.
The standing committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's highest legislature, dismissed Mr Zhou Ji on Saturday at the end of a routine meeting and promoted deputy education minister Yuan Guiren to replace him.
In announcing the change late on Saturday, the official Xinhua News Agency gave no reason but said Mr Zhou will get a new appointment. Yesterday, he was appointed deputy party secretary of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, reported the official china.com.cn news website.
At 63, the American-educated Mr Zhou was two years short of retirement.
The surprise move was the latest shift to roil a public education system that Chinese traditionally idealise as a fair pathway to advancement but also one filled with problems - from chronic under-funding at primary and secondary levels to poor-quality higher education, the Associated Press reported yesterday.
According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, Mr Zhou bore the brunt of discontent over widespread plagiarism in universities, corruption, extortionate education fees and commercialisation of education, such as allowing schools of academic prestige to operate as elite private schools.
Though many of the ills predate Mr Zhou's rise to education minister six years ago, he has come to be associated with them.
When the NPC met last year to vote in a new Cabinet for a five-year term, Mr Zhou received the highest number of negative votes of any minister.
Mr Xiong Bingqi , deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute - a non-profit organisation - said that even Premier Wen Jiabao had noted the deteriorating quality of China's education. Mr Wen said recently that the students of this generation lacked creativity and the ability to apply their knowledge in real life. On another occasion, Mr Wen criticised teachers as lacking professional spirit and commitment.
Critic Xu Xiliang said in the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily that Mr Zhou had exacerbated China's educational problems by merging schools and universities into grand-looking institutions which kept impoverished students outside its doors with unreasonably high fees.
The school appraisal system was also a farce under Mr Zhou, said Mr Xu. He said many schools felt pressured to cook up academic results and some deemed it necessary to ingratiate themselves with investigators from the ministry.
Mr Zhou's removal also took place weeks after two senior administrators were arrested for bribery at Wuhan University. While Mr Zhou has not been publicly linked with the scandal, he spent much of his career in Wuhan city in central Hubei province, first heading the Huazhong University of Science and Technology and later serving for two years as the city's mayor.
people who are not qualified are heading major educational institutions...
they have been put there for ideological reasons instead of academic qualification
one TCM university Dean in southern China actually plagiarize students thesis!
but why was he there in the first place?
because he was part of the the propaganda machineries..
China sacks education minister
Dismissal comes amid rising discontent with ills in the system; deputy to take over
BEIJING: China's legislature has removed the country's unpopular education minister amid widespread public dissatisfaction with the education system.
The standing committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's highest legislature, dismissed Mr Zhou Ji on Saturday at the end of a routine meeting and promoted deputy education minister Yuan Guiren to replace him.
In announcing the change late on Saturday, the official Xinhua News Agency gave no reason but said Mr Zhou will get a new appointment. Yesterday, he was appointed deputy party secretary of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, reported the official china.com.cn news website.
At 63, the American-educated Mr Zhou was two years short of retirement.
The surprise move was the latest shift to roil a public education system that Chinese traditionally idealise as a fair pathway to advancement but also one filled with problems - from chronic under-funding at primary and secondary levels to poor-quality higher education, the Associated Press reported yesterday.
According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, Mr Zhou bore the brunt of discontent over widespread plagiarism in universities, corruption, extortionate education fees and commercialisation of education, such as allowing schools of academic prestige to operate as elite private schools.
Though many of the ills predate Mr Zhou's rise to education minister six years ago, he has come to be associated with them.
When the NPC met last year to vote in a new Cabinet for a five-year term, Mr Zhou received the highest number of negative votes of any minister.
Mr Xiong Bingqi , deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute - a non-profit organisation - said that even Premier Wen Jiabao had noted the deteriorating quality of China's education. Mr Wen said recently that the students of this generation lacked creativity and the ability to apply their knowledge in real life. On another occasion, Mr Wen criticised teachers as lacking professional spirit and commitment.
Critic Xu Xiliang said in the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily that Mr Zhou had exacerbated China's educational problems by merging schools and universities into grand-looking institutions which kept impoverished students outside its doors with unreasonably high fees.
The school appraisal system was also a farce under Mr Zhou, said Mr Xu. He said many schools felt pressured to cook up academic results and some deemed it necessary to ingratiate themselves with investigators from the ministry.
Mr Zhou's removal also took place weeks after two senior administrators were arrested for bribery at Wuhan University. While Mr Zhou has not been publicly linked with the scandal, he spent much of his career in Wuhan city in central Hubei province, first heading the Huazhong University of Science and Technology and later serving for two years as the city's mayor.
