China Creates Scientific Elite in Research Labs

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 27, 2002

China Creates Scientific Elite in Research Labs

China is encouraging ambitious university undergraduates to undertake practical laboratory research in an urgent search for elite scientific and technological professionals. For a long period after China's opening-up reforms, only master and doctorate students were regarded as qualified to undertake university research projects.

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Undergraduates encouraged to undertake research

China is encouraging ambitious university undergraduates to undertake practical laboratory research in an urgent search for elite scientific and technological professionals.

At only 20 years old, Wang Weiwei, an undergraduate at the University of Science and Technology of China(USTC), was lucky enough to get in a dental optical material testing project at the university, which led to a patent much sought by overseas dentists.

"A great enthusiasm was encouraged in me in searching for and studying references for the research," she said. To her, the most important reward was seeing uninteresting fixed terms and formulas yield substantial profits.

"Without the newly-deployed quality-oriented educational strategy, students like Wang Weiwei would have to wait another four years in undergraduate study to demonstrate their talents in practical lab research," said Wang's tutor, Professor Ming Hai.

Reform of higher-learning education

For a long period after China's opening-up reforms, only master and doctorate students were regarded as qualified to undertake university research projects, while the benefit of undergraduate education was generally considered to be basic scientific knowledge and doctrinal education.

The excessive stress on book study, however, has been recognized as a barrier prohibiting students' own initiative and creation.

The Undergraduate Scientific Research Plan has been adapted by many prestigious Chinese universities including Tsinghua, Nanjing and Zhejiang universities as a new strategy to cultivate innovative talent.

Many talented professionals with innovative spirit and research ability are urgently needed to make China more competitive with its accession into the World Trade Organization. The result is a reform of the country's higher-learning institutes, said Liu Bin, an official with the Ministry of Education.

Despite the fact that the number of Chinese technological workers was the fourth highest in the world, the country's competitiveness in scientific research and patents ranked 32nd and 21st respectively, owing to the traditional examination-oriented education, he said.

Academician Zhu Qingshi, president of the USTC, said that many Chinese students sent to study abroad were evaluated by their foreign teachers as "having only been adapted for examinations and unable to do their own research".

He said that the university started in 1999 to pilot experiments in undergraduate teaching, which systematically introduces scientific research. The program has allowed hundreds of students to participate in 418 challenging research projects jointly set up by the university and high-tech companies at home and abroad.

China helps universities improve research

China reorganized its 387 higher-learning institutes into 212 last year, helping to improve research in these universities. The Undergraduate Scientific Research Plan provides the opportunity for students to work with teachers engaged in scientific innovations and top research fellows in these universities.

This plan has allowed some students able to realize their dreams. Yin Xuebin, from the USTC, became the first undergraduate and the youngest person to take part in a Chinese scientific expedition to the South Pole in 2000. Yin, a major in earth and space sciences, obtained the chance by attending a polar research project carried out by the university.

Stimulated by the objective, Tsinghua University's research funding increased from 140 million yuan in 1993 to 730 million yuan in 2000 with an average growth rate of 20 percent. Meanwhile, the recruitment of undergraduates surged from 10,857 in 1999 to 12,625 in 2000.

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