DEPUTIES to the 3rd Session of the 13th Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress hope more universities and institutes will be established in Shenzhen to meet the demands of its economic and social development. “Shenzhen lacks globally influential universities and disciplines. It is a shortfall of Shenzhen’s education, which fails to match the city’s economic level and innovation capabilities,” Rao Mumin, executive president of Aoyou Power Group, was quoted as saying by Southern Metropolis Daily on Thursday. Rao said Guangdong Provincial Education Department is supporting Shenzhen in exploring and innovating higher education mechanisms. Some colleges could be merged into, what Rao called, Shenzhen Union University of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a comprehensive university with a wide range of disciplines. Under the framework, the colleges and disciplines would be regrouped and categorized to avoid repetition and form strengths. Compared with first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Shenzhen’s higher learning education lags far behind, statistics from Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau showed. Taking Guangzhou as an example, it has more than 80 higher learning institutions and more than 1 million students studying full-time. Shenzhen now has only 14 universities, including Shenzhen Open University. The number of students is 100,000, less than one-tenth of that in Guangzhou. Most of the universities were set up through cooperation with domestic and international universities and are generally small in size with overlapping subjects and disciplines. Deputy Zhu Guangbao suggested that Guangdong authorize more powers to Shenzhen for running higher learning institutes. The management of higher learning institutes in China is generally centralized in the Central Government and provincial governments. Municipal governments like Shenzhen’s generally invest financial and human resources to provide services and coordinate projects. They don’t have the power to set up universities and decide enrollment numbers. According to the city’s development plan for higher learning institutions, the Shenzhen government will invest 150 billion yuan (US$21 billion) over 10 years to build quality higher learning institutions to meet the demands of the city’s development, and the construction of the Greater Bay Area and the pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Five universities are on the agenda of the government’s priority list, namely Ocean University of China, Shenzhen Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shenzhen University of Technology, Shenzhen Innovation and Creative Design Academy and Shenzhen Music Conservatory, an official with the Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau said. The city aims to have 20 higher learning institutions by the end of 2025 with the number of full-time students reaching 250,000. (Han Ximin) |