Establishing SUSTC was meant to win credibility for higher education in the area. Shenzen’s administration hoped to emulate the resounding success of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Twenty years after its founding, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology already ranks within the top 50 universities worldwide. To this end, Shenzhen invested $2 billion into SUSTC. Former mayor Liang Xiang, summed up the city’s drive towards establishing a university at any cost by saying, “We have to build a university, even if it means selling our own pants!”

SUSTC also served as a brave experiment in educational reform and autonomy. The university recruited its first class of 45 students using its own criteria without going through the national college entrance exam, or gaokao, and it’s hard to understate how revolutionary this decision was.

The gaokao is traditionally the single determining factor in college admissions and consists of a grueling battery of exams that are conducted over several days and last for at least nine hours. It is so important that the last few years of high school are devoted solely to preparing for it. On exam day, every possible measure is taken to ensure that testing conditions are as fair as possible. Policemen in many cities are asked to silence their sirens and escort students to the testing grounds. Worried parents spend the day scouting nearby neighborhoods rooting out any noise that might distract their children and derail their futures. A media blitz invariably accompanies every year’s gaokao as every outlet reports on what extremes this family or that family went to make sure that their son or daughter was the best prepared. As soon as the exams are over and the questions are released to the public, pundits and bloggers pore over and analyze every question.

The test is widely criticized both within China and in the West for its emphasis on rote memorization and the pressure it puts on teenagers. Every year there are reports of students succumbing to the pressure of the exams and committing suicide. Many students who hope to attend a top university like Peking University or Tsinghua University will take the gaokao two or even three times to obtain the score needed, even though the test is administered only once a year. That delay can have lasting effects: when I was studying as an exchange student at Peking University, I once remarked to a Chinese classmate that Peking University students tended to look older than the students I met during my one semester at Beijing Language and Culture University, a more average university nearby. She explained to me that Peking University had many students that took the gaokao multiple times, making the average age of undergraduates higher.

SUSTC had hoped to become a pioneer in reform by bypassing the gaokao completely and issuing its own diplomas not recognized by the Department of Education. At first, the Head of the Department of Education, Yuan Guiren, gave enthusiastic support to SUSTC’s goals of reform. However, in February, the Department of Education moved to require that of all of SUSTC’s students take the gaokao. This version of the test, however, differed greatly from other gaokaos and was more of a formality: students did not have to go back to their original places of residence, a large range of test dates were offered, and the results were not to be released to the public. Further, no matter what score the students received, they were allowed to remain at the university. These lax conditions caused many students to deride the test as a “fake gaokao” and a “registration test” rather than an entrance exam. Others wrote an open letter saying that they thought the test was inappropriate in the light of their goals of reform. Teachers and even the founder of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Wu Jiawei, weighed in on the controversy, emphasizing compromise. One teacher wrote that “any differences in opinion exist in whether or not one should reduce risk while reforming. It’s not a binary opposition between reform and anti-reform.”

The storm that surronded the SUSTC’s testing policies reflects a desire for reform and a growing dissatisfaction with the gaokao and the rote, memorization-based education associated with it. Anxiety about testing continues to have effects: top students will often opt to go to institutions in Hong Kong or in the West instead of universities in Mainland China partly because of dissatisfaction with their home country’s educational model. This year, China was shocked when at least 17 of the top scorers in the country chose to attend The University of Hong Kong instead of Peking University or Tsinghua University. Increasingly, students are also looking towards attending American high schools as a way to receive an English-based education that will give them a secure path towards one day attending a American university. Those heading on that path hope that their credentials and strong English skills will give them greater opportunities in the job market and a more hopeful future if they choose to return to China.

(Photo Credit: Ketan Gajria)

Syria is a useful case study for the challenges faced by students in many Arab nations across the Middle East. Amid the current media attention on the country’s upheavals and uprisings, Syria can help us learn a lot about the dreams and mindset of Arab youth.

Similar to a number of its neighbors, Syria is a country dominated by its young population. A vast majority of Syrians are younger than the country’s embattled President, Bashar Al-Asad, who is currently 45 years-old, and the new generation is more outward-looking than that of their parents. Internet cafes are no longer confined to just the major cities, and as a result, it is unusual to come across a student in his or her 20s who isn’t using Facebook, Hotmail, Youtube, or popular Arabic-language sites like Maktoob, which was recently acquired by Yahoo. Skype is also gaining a real foothold in Syria; one of the most common phrases I read in my correspondence with Syrian friends is “khaleena nehki ala Skype!”: “Let’s talk on Skype!”

Unfortunately, Syria is plagued by a high rate of unemployment, and the country’s youth are finding very little opportunity within their homeland to make a living. Young Syrians are increasingly looking abroad for opportunities that are unavailable to them at home. While the Gulf States have for some time offered Syrian youth lucrative opportunities for employment, students are, more and more, looking beyond the Middle East for educational programs. Many seek the ability to speak fluent English, which is the gateway to some of the best jobs in Syria and for many other types of employment located abroad. Several programs exist at smaller colleges in Britain and the United States that offer Arab students one-year Master’s programs in English-Arabic translation, English literature, and other linguistic concentrations. The Fulbright program has also traditionally offered Syrian students a limited number of slots to help teach Arabic in the States.

Nonetheless, many Syrian students find themselves unprepared to successfully compete for enrollment at the top foreign institutions. Two of the main reasons behind this are the rote-learning models adopted by most public schools at the primary and secondary stage, and sub-par English-language instruction. Teaching is often conducted by non-native speakers who rely on simplistic written-translation drills, with little focus on conversational or interactive skills.

Syrian and foreign entrepreneurs have responded to this shortcoming via the opening of numerous English-language institutes in Damascus. In addition to a language institute at Damascus University (affiliated with the government), there are private, Syrian-owned centers like Fakhr Assham (“The Pride of Damascus”). Others, like Berlitz, are both private and foreign. Others still, like the British Council and the American Language Center, have relationships with foreign embassies. Fees can run from $85 to $230 per course, with Damascus University falling at the lower end at around $125. While some of these institutes are able to attract native speakers to teach, however, these instructors are often college-aged Americans and Brits without extensive experience in teaching their mother-tongue as a foreign language. Furthermore, students at these institutes tend to be of college age, meaning they are often trying to make up for years of lost time by enrolling at one of these private institutes for several levels. While some advantaged families are beginning to consider enrolling their sons and daughters in such centers from an early age, the practice has yet to really catch on. As we know with most types of academic learning, and certainly with language, earlier starts lead to better outcomes.

The challenges faced by Syrian students that I mentioned above are of course not limited to Syrians alone, and in fact much of the Middle East is struggling to educate its youth so that they can compete in our globalized economy and society. Even in the more affluent Gulf States, governments and decision-makers are pushing to educate their own populace rather than importing foreign expertise for their future development projects. The Middle East certainly has a robust interest in foreign education these days, and we at The Cambridge Institute are committed to responding to this demand in the near future. We have already begun investing resources to develop a unique, exciting, and sustainable program for the region: it is one of the major components of our three-year strategic plan. Our current and potential future partners can look forward to our coming entry into this emerging market.

So Rob Schmitz is not exaggerating when he says “the gao kao is by far the most important point in a young person’s life in China.”

Marketplace and American Public Media permit direct embedding, so here is a player cued up to the story:

(Or view the transcript.)

This is highly pertinent to educators interested in study abroad programs, in teaching methodology overseas and in the experience of high school students in China. It is impossible to overstate the importance of the Gaokao in college admissions. It is literally the only factor. By way of illustration, consider this: for a tiny minority of students, such as Math Olympiad medalists whom the Ministry of Eduction wishes to reward with favored status, favoritism is directly conferred through a numerical bonus to the Gaokao score, in order that these students may be compared “scientifically” with others.

Update:

Tuesday’s installment profiles an individual student, establishes the Chinese official point of view: that these tests are effective, and that international standardized test scores prove that China’s education system is the best in the world. The treatment goes on to discuss a competing view, presented by Shaun Rein, managing director of a market research firm in Shanghai.  Rein describes the education system in a state of crisis, for its failure to instill analytical and critical thinking skills.

Update 2:

Wednesday’s installment moves on to the post-secondary level, where current students describe burn-out and complacency as the norm. The thrust is that (as is sometimes claimed about America’s elite institutions) “the hardest part is getting in.” The piece moves on to point out that millions of recent graduates are unemployed. This is a prime reason for the incredible pressure of the Gaokao: graduates of second-tier universities are increasingly failing to become employed when they enter the job market.

Inside the classroom, there was rarely an open seat. Once, my best student missed the final exam, and I contacted her to ask for an explanation. Imagine my surprise when I learned that my star pupil wasn’t even enrolled in the class!

DiDa has five percent foreign enrollment, and has opened its doors to students from Africa, Europe and the Middle East. These “foreign” students attend schools like DiDa for two purposes: to obtain professional qualifications, and to build their Chinese language skills. The common language for the foreign students is English, and their Beginning Chinese classes, when necessary, are taught in English. Friendships spring up easily between Chinese and foreign students, and the ambitious students find partners for tutoring and language exchange.

The symbiotic relationship between these two populations—the Chinese speakers learning English, and the English speakers studying Chinese—brought great strength to the university. With these joint language studies as a natural bridge, and with students and teachers from every corner of the world, DiDa was home to a highly cosmopolitan, pluralistic, polyglot community. This significant minority of foreign students is also a growing presence on campus.  When I first arrived there was one dormitory, housing two hundred foreign students, compared with a domestic student body of 20,000 Chinese students. Over the years, three more dormitories were added, until the foreign population was nearly 1000 strong.

The benefits to these foreign students were unmistakable. Many launched their own businesses while still in school. One started a business exporting farming equipment to his native Peru. He married another student, a girl from Algeria, and they ran the business together in Chinese and English, while also making use of their native languages: Spanish for him, Arabic and French for her.

People from all countries agree on the importance of a good education, but education does not stop when the final bell rings. We develop our interpersonal skills by interacting with others. Students who are educated in an international setting will leave the school with a broader understanding of different cultures and a greater appreciation of global issues. Their experiences enable them to open new lines of communication across borders. These dialogues foster further cross-cultural interaction and understanding leading to increased collaboration on projects that might be otherwise impossible or impractical for citizens of one country alone.

Families worldwide recognize that international awareness is a crucial component of every education. For Chinese families, this raises the desirability of a school like DiDa that can attract students from around the globe. Yet while many Chinese universities have made great strides in recent years, the best and most attractive option for students growing up in China remains the same: attending an American or European university that can provide still-greater international exposure and networking potential. Accordingly, Chinese enrollment at U.S. universities is growing rapidly, and we can expect this trend to continue as more American colleges develop the capacity to enroll Chinese students, and as more Chinese families enter the middle class. The same values and benefits of international education that I saw in person in China look likely to have a growing prominence in American education, a welcome addition to the existing strengths of American private institutions.

And in fact, the Shouwang church’s Easter morning service was broken up by police officers, who “shunted dozens of people, many of them young adults, onto buses as they turned up near the walkway where the church had said it would pray on Sundays.” While some detainees sang hymns as they were loaded onto the bus, police “prevented reporters from approaching the detainees, who mostly did not appear to resist detention.” According to a member of the Shouwang church, approximately a dozen Shouwang church leaders have been detained or are under house arrest, while many members chose to pray privately or in small groups rather than meeting in public.

Founded by pastor Jin Tianming in 1993, the Shouwang church, is one of Beijing’s largest house churches, with approximately 1,000 members. The Chinese government has in the past relaxed restrictions on house churches, but some leaders of the country’s smaller house churches fear that these recent actions against the Shouwang church may indicate what awaits other independent churches that grow to the size of Shouwang.

While China has approximately 10 million Protestants and 4 million Catholics who belong to registered churches, the number of members of house churches is far greater; speaking to Reuters, Carsten Vala, a Loyola University professor specializing in Chinese Christians, estimated that the total number of Protestants in China was between 40 and 60 million. The Wall Street Journal’s Leslie Hook had an even higher estimate, writing that “the number of Chinese belonging to underground churches may now exceed 100 million people.” In any case, it is clear that the majority of Chinese Christians choose house churches over the country’s registered churches, which “proscribe evangelical activity and preach a patriotic dogma.”

The Chinese authorities’ action against  the Shouwang church is therefore a sobering reminder to Chinese Christians nationwide of the level of suspicion and censorship with which the state greets religious thought that wishes to remain independent of the government. We at the Cambridge Institute hope that such incidents put in perspective for our Christian partner schools the situation on the ground for Christianity in China – and perhaps help explain the relative lack of familiarity among our Chinese students with the Christian tradition so engrained into American culture.

In accordance with our mission, we strive to make full use of our resources engaging academia as a powerful tool for development and change. We hope that this blog serves as an engaging and informative resource, freely available to students and educators everywhere. Our ultimate goal here is to provide a diverse array of opportunities to successfully and sustainably develop international perspectives.

We would like to consider this a multi-purpose blog… three purposes, to be exact:

Purpose 1: We would like to allow our partners a clear window into our progress and development as a firm. Our Boston office has expanded into a workforce of over 15 dedicated consultants, excited to work with our private school partners. We plan to use this blog to roll out the many new services and programs in our pipeline, such as our development of a proven HS Mandarin curriculum and our exciting agenda for worldwide promotions.

Purpose 2: We will be reporting on a multitude of pertinent topics in the world of international education, such as international programs, developing trends in the field, notes on cultural competency, and tips for developing a healthy international perspective. We would like both our partners and international education “junkies” to look to this blog as a fun, interesting, and informative resource. We will cover a comprehensive range of global topics. For now, keep an eye out for our introductory piece titled “Religion in China: Situating Christianity in a Communist Nation”.

Purpose 3: Lastly, this blog will serve as a medium to reflect, share, and discuss our experiences and at various educational conferences across the globe (NAFSA, NAIS, SBSA, International Student Recruitment Fairs, and many more exciting opportunities…).  We sincerely value the experiences and interactions we have with educators at these conferences and look forward to sharing and reporting.

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Warm Regards,

Adam Rice

Director of HS Programs