A Small Step Forward for China

By Qiang Zha. On October 9, 2013 in Hefei, nine elite Chinese universities (members of C9, often acknowledged as “China’s Ivy League”) signed a statement with the presidents of the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Group of Eight (GO8) in Australia, and the League of European Research Universities (LERU), endorsing open inquiry, scientific integrity, and other academic values as the key components of a modern research university, and demonstrating an  incipient effort to work closely with top universities in other parts of the world. This move is cherished by some as a bold step on the part of those Chinese universities to openly embrace academic freedom (the Statement describes the 6th characteristic of a modern research university as “exercise of academic freedom”), although this might be merely a small step forward from what was already framed in the National Outline for Medium- and Long-Term Educational Reform and Development (2010–2020), or the 2020 Blueprint. Read more...