Weekly Review of Education News in ChinaFollowing is a review of the major education news released by Xinhua from July 2 to July 8:Chinese Ph.D. Candidates to Help in Western Areas Some 2,000 Ph.D. candidates will set out tomorrow to work in China's western areas to assist with local economic development. The program is jointly sponsored by the Department of Publicity of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, the Ministry of Education and the All-China Students' Federation. Beijing University Join Hands with Wuhan Companies China's prestigious Beijing University inked an agreement with two local companies to jointly develop optical and electronic products in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province. The university and the two companies also reached consensus on the set-up of a joint company, the Wuhan-Beiguang Digital Video Industry Development Co. Ltd. Under the agreement, the university will provide digital video technology to the new company, while the two companies will be responsible for investment and management. Campus Ideological, Ethical Education Emphasized China's educational authorities urged schools nationwide to enhance ideological and ethical education among both students and teachers. Minister of Education Chen Zhili said on July 5 that greater importance should be attached to ideological and political work, as well as the work of building the Chinese Communist Party on campuses in the new circumstances. More young and highly-qualified intellectuals in colleges and universities will be encouraged to join the Party. Courses to introduce Marxism and Deng Xiaoping theory and to enhance students ' ethical awareness should be available at more colleges, Chen said at a national meeting on Party building in colleges. Circular Issued on Leisure Facilities for Schoolchildren The general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council has issued a circular on strengthening the building and management of facilities for schoolchildren to pass their spare time outside school hours. China has 240 million schoolchildren, but the existing spare- time facilities are far short of meeting their needs in terms of quantity, layout and scale, according to the circular. It urges relevant government departments at all levels to conduct an overall examination of the existing sites to find any problems and deal with them in time. Financial departments at all levels should provide necessary assistance for the purpose, it adds. One Million Students Bound for Rural Areas Starting from July 3, over one million students will go to rural areas for social practice work this summer, according to the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China. More college students and professional school students have participated in these activities this year than last year. In east China's Jiangsu province alone, more than 300,000 students have volunteered. In addition, about 1,800 doctorate students will join the activity, 60 percent of whom will go to the western regions of the country to help improve the levels of science, culture and health there. New Institute to Train More Teachers for Deaf Children An institute was set up on July 5 in Beijing to train professional teachers to help deaf children retrieve their hearing. The Beijing Hearing and Language Recuperation Technologies Institute was founded by the China Disabled Persons' Federation and Beijing Union University. It will train teachers to help deaf children improve their hearing and speaking abilities through a series of scientific programs. Statistics show that China now has 800,000 deaf children under seven years old, most of whom still have some hearing ability and could recover with the help of effective training. 3.88 Million Students to Sit for College Entrance Exams A total of 3.88 million Chinese students sat for college and university entrance examinations this year, 485,000 more than last year, according to the Ministry of Education. The exams will be held, as they are every year, on July 7-9. Chinese universities will enroll 2.04 million students this year, which means about 52.5 percent of the exam participants will have the chance to continue their college study. CASS Graduate School Holds Commencement Almost 4,000 students have left the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences with master's degrees or Ph.D.s since the country's top postgraduate school was founded 22 years ago. A graduation ceremony was held on July 6 in Beijing for 116 Ph. D. and 81 M.A. students who have earned their diplomas. The students were enrolled in 25 departments and 42 specialties. The student population at the school is expected to top 4,000 by 2010. |
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