HIGHER EDUCATION
The incomplete business model
Throughout the world, colleges and universities are increasingly acknowledging their students are consumers of an educational product and are rapidly adopting a business model for their institutions. The student is no longer treated as a “client” but is treated as a “consumer.”[1] Curriculums are changing from a quality educational product to a product driven by the need for customer satisfaction.
Universities and Colleges
Britain plans to treat students as consumers
British Minister of Education Lord Mandelson has unveiled a major plan for universities designed to aid the country’s economic recovery and pave the way for an overhaul of student tuition fees. In the plan universities will be told they should treat students more like customers and become more responsive to the needs of businesses. It could lead to radical changes in how students take degrees, including more Open University-style, web-based degrees to allow students to work while they study, and schemes to encourage employers to pay towards the costs of degrees [2]
Lost in this rush to satisfy the customer is the recognition that the student is also the valued added product that higher education is placing into the stream of commerce. Therefore, this new business model is incomplete and a serious disservice to the students and society as a whole. Higher education takes raw talent, just matriculated from high school, adds value through further higher education, grants a degree as evidenced by a diploma, and releases them into the stream of commerce as a value added product, ie. a highly educated person, qualified in their field of study, to make their contribution to society.
The new business model of students as consumers is not without its detractors.
General Secretary of the University and College Union, Sally Hunt has warned that the plan reduces students and staff to customer and cashier and risked losing sight of what universities are actually for and how higher education works. The union further warned that a student-centric assessment system could lead to grade inflation, but no improvements in standards.
“Universities are supposed to be about challenging perceived wisdom, not just ensuring a consumer is happy. The US experience shows that a quality regime based on student evaluations does nothing to raise academic standards but produces rampant grade inflation as institutions and staff compete to secure positive feedback,” said Ms Hunt.[3]
There can be no doubt that higher education is BIG business.
As of 1999, China had more than 800,000 public schools, primary through college, (www.umich.edu) churning out over 2.5 million College graduates each year (Xinhua News Agency, 3/27/02) with the numbers still on the rise. A different report claims that China currently has 1.35 million schools and an enrollment of 320 million students. (China Daily.com, 10/30/02) In 2001 the class of entering college freshman swelled to 2.6 million, 800,000 more than in 2000, (China Daily, 11/28/01) with a total college enrollment of 11.75 million in 2002, 8.02 million more than in 1990. (China Daily, 10/30/02) As of 1999 there were more than 13 million teachers serving more than 71 million students. (www.umich.edu) Accurate, up-to-date figures do not seem to be readily available, which may be attributable to the sheer magnitude of the educational system.
In 2009 China expects 10 million[4] new college students to attend its +2,236[5] public colleges and more than 1,300 private colleges.[6]
Private EFL/ESL schools (kindergartens, primary, middle, high and college) have proliferated to such an extent that according to statistics from the Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee of the NPC, about 54,000 private schools had been set up in China by the end of 2000, with 6.93 million registered students. (People’s Daily, 5/23/01).
In its quest to make up for lost time, China is mass-producing university graduates like a modern factory assembly line produces consumer goods. Educating a Nation of 1.3 billion people is a monumental task beyond belief. As with any production process,
educating China is not without its problems and defective products do occur.(Qiang/Wolff/Teng/Gregory, “Can You Get A First Class Education At A Third Tier College in China?, Progress in Education Vol. 13 Ch 2) Without adequate quality assurance the end product may be unacceptable in the marketplace. Such is the case with so many diplomas from Chinese colleges and universities. (Chinese Universit Diploma: Can its International Image be Improved? (2007) Qiang/Wolff, Frontiers in Higher Education, Nova Science Publishers)
The teaching of English as a Foreign/Second Language (EFL/ESL) in China has become a nationwide endeavor pursued at all academic levels, from the kindergarten to the University. In the past ten years there has been an explosion in the development of public school English programs and private English language schools throughout China. EFL/ESL has become very big business in China (China Daily, HK Edition, October 9, 2002.) Reports show that ESL has become a 10-billion yuan business in China. Of the 37 billion yuan annual book sales, ESL takes up as much as 25% of the market share. And a few ESL teachers in Shanghai command an hourly rate of 1,000 yuan (US$120). Even on average, a student pays 10-20 yuan (US$1.2-2.4) for one hour of ESL training. (EFL/ESL Teaching in China: Questions – Questions – Questions (2007) Qiang/Wolff, Frontiers in Higher Education, Nova Science Publishers)
Although “English Fever” is running rampant throughout China and is claimed to be “market driven”; the rush to institute English learning nationwide, with more than 1,000,000 Chinese teachers of English who are themselves, for the most part, unable to produce comprehensible oral or written English or teach in the target language, has miserably failed to meet market needs. The goal of universities and colleges throughout China is to have students pass national English competency examinations such as TEM 4, CET 4 and CET 6. Setting aside, for the moment, the fact that these national English competency examinations bear little or no relationship to comprehensible output, the pass rates have become the exclusive focus of administrative attention and false pride. This is in part due to demands of Chinese employers who are misinformed that passing CET 6 is the evidence of an accomplished English speaker[7]. Wang Shugua, President of Harbin Institute of Technology is quoted as saying “I recognize CET as a good tool to promote English studies but I am against the practice of regarding a CET certificate as the prerequisite for graduation, which is totally misleading.” He tried to eliminate the requirement for a CET certificate in order to graduate from HIT, but gave up without success. “I had to reconsider the usefulness of CET certificates in job hunting for our graduates. Almost all employers want their recruits to have a CET certificate, so I had to push my students to pass the CET for their good, although it is against my will,”[8]
The market need to have graduates who can produce comprehensible English output has been completely ignored. Consequently, foreign employers, Joint Venture employers and Chinese companies doing business abroad are hiring university graduates from India because they are better able to produce comprehensible oral and written English, than their Chinese counterparts. Imagine more than 5 million Chinese university graduates, who have learned English for 16 years, many of whom are being passed over for Chinese jobs in China. This is simply unacceptable! English is one of “the 10 most popular disciplines that saw low rates of employment last year.”[9] Chinese universities are under tremendous pressure to change curriculums to meet the needs of the job market. But instead, they are simply reducing enrollments in certain majors.[10] “One of the reasons for the difficulty in university graduates finding employment is that they are unable to satisfy the needs of employers,” he said. (Yang Weiguo, associate professor of Beijing-based Renmin University) He said the universities needed to adjust their teaching methods and content quickly to conform to social development and demand.[11] (INCOMPATIBILITY OF CORPORATE TRAINING AND HOLISTIC ENGLISH (2009) China EFL Curriculum Reform, Nova Science Publications)
Higher education is BIG Business. “There is an estimated 5.59 million students this year (2008) in China, compared to 3.38 million in 2005, 4.13 million in 2006 and 4.91 million last year.”[12] Chinese universities are producing an assembly line product, i.e. graduates properly equipped to make their maximum contribution to creating a better off harmonious society, with Chinese characteristics. When we produce English major graduates who cannot produce comprehensible oral or written English, we are creating defective products. Imagine an automobile factory that produced cars that, when they come off the assembly line, cannot run. The automobile company would need to analyze the problem and institute proper corrections to produce a marketable automobile. (China EFL: The revolution has begun but the long march lies ahead (2009) China Curriculum Reform, Nova Science Publications)
This results in English majors graduating without the knowledge and skills represented by the diploma. This is a fraud upon the students whose diploma is a representation to them that they have acquired the knowledge and skills represented by the diploma. It is also a fraud upon the parents who financed the student’s college education and are led to believe that their child has made a major accomplishment other than just sitting through a university education. It is also a fraud upon the student’s future employer who will rely upon the college diploma when making the initial employment decision, only to subsequently realize that the student is totally unqualified for the job.
But worst of all, it is a fraud perpetrated upon a society that believes that a highly educated workforce will lead to a better-off society and therefore expends huge amounts of resources on higher education. The college graduate with the unearned diploma is qualified to do little more than be a “highly educated” laborer with a college diploma. Society will only be advanced on paper and in the minds of its members, while the goal of a better-off society will have been lost to the disillusionment of reality as these “educated” college graduates fail to make meaningful contributions to society. (EFL/ESL Teaching in China: Questions – Questions – Questions (2007) Qiang/Wolff, Frontiers in Higher Education, Nova Science Publishers)
The concept of the teacher as the quality control officer is eroding and the student is becoming the arbiter of their own quality.[13] This is accomplished through the use of consumer surveys.[14] Grades have traditionally been the vehicle for the teacher, as quality assurance officer, to evaluate the student’s transformation to a value added product. Increasingly, the student’s perception of benefits received is replacing the teachers’ evaluation.
[1] Blaum (June 2005)College Students Have Evolved from Clients to Consumers, http://www.ed.psu.edu/news/studentconsumers.asp accessed December 20, 2009
[7] Yuankai, Tang, 9/6/07 Beijing Review, Education Feared to Raise Robots http://www.bjreview.com.cn/special/txt/2007-08/31/content_74644.htm (accessed July 10, 2008)
[8] Beijing Review., Education Feared to Raise Robots http://www.bjreview.com.cn/special/txt/2007-08/31/content_74644.htm (accessed July 10, 2008)
[9] http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-06/27/content_6799171.htm
Beijing-based survey company Mycos HR (accessed June 2008)
[10] Hot courses’ won’t secure good jobs(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2008) http://www.china.org.cn/china/national/2008-01/12/content_1239129.htm (accessed October 10, 2008)
[11] 20% university graduates fail to find jobs in 2007 (Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2008) http://www.china.org.cn/english/China/239233.htm (Accessed October 1, 2008)
[12] State-owned groups top students’ wish list, Liu Jie (China Daily), 2008-06-27
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008-06/27/content_6800492.htm
Poor universities may shut down in 10 years
By Jia Xu (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-03-24 16:00
“With the decline of China’s population base and the descendant tendency of suitable higher education-age population, some private-run universities will face fierce competition on recruitment and are likely to shut down in the next 10 years,” said Gu Hailiang, president of Wuhan University and NPC deputy, according to sina.com.
He quotes statistics from the education bureau showing the number of students taking the 2010 national higher-education entrance exam dropping by 20% from the previous year in Beijing. In Shanghai, the number of people taking the college entrance examination has fallen for three consecutive years.
In addition, China’s aging population will grow tremendously along with the continued implementation of family planning, which will worsen the situation.
“The reduced number of people going to college will add competition among universities including private ones, and this may result in closure for some private universities.”
This requires Chinese education departments to be aware of the further development of the national higher-education system, including the total number of universities and university specialization.
Gu said that more and more parents are aware of the value of special skills for youths, and are cooling toward traditional university education. Vocational universities will grow in popularity and traditional ones may face a threat.
Because of the lack of operation experience by Chinese private universities, such as in the fields of college financing and incentive funding measures, compared with Western countries, the best way for some private universities would be to figure out a special course with distinct features in the educational market, and if not, as Gu said, “what is left for them is nothing but to close down.”
In my opinion, it’s necessary for higher education to advance along with the times, because colleges and universities are training people for the society. But, to understand the function of universities better, we should think of the relation between universities and society. Universities are the gathering places of the outstanding person. Do the universities lead the direction of society or the society lead the direction of universities? If the universities place into the stream of commerce, what is the position of the study of arts, for example philosophy, which have nothing to do with commerce? So I think we should distinguish the action of different subject first, and then make the right decisions.
This article pointed out the harsh reality faced by education in China. The college enrolment explosion has caused a series of problems. The most significant one is the gap between graduates’ quality and the social demand. Just like consumer goods produced on the assembly line, we graduate from college without the real knowledge and skills represented by the diploma. In my view, colleges should not be so business-oriented and a long-term eyesight is required to enhance our higher education. Besides, with the deeper and deeper development of market economy in China, policymakers become more and more radical in the allocation of education resources. An education mechanism based on constructive thinking will be established in our country in the future.
As to me, I do not want to be treated as a consumer. Once the university becomes a factory manufacturing products, the teacher-student relationship will become cold and apathetic, and the beautiful friendship we now enjoying will cease to exist.
It’s really ironical that the richer an university is, the faster the university develop in China. Of course, maybe it’s not only happens in China. But I really don’t think that is a good phenomenon in education field. I believe that every Chinese people would not suspect that Kongzi is absolutely not rich, but there is no doubt that he made a miracle in education history. The destination of education is not only to gain valuable hands-on experience but to lead the direction for the whole civilization process, and I believe this means not only money.
Changing the colleges and universities to satisfy the need of students may cause some disadvantages. Students are supposed to be taught, and if you really want to learn something, you have to work hard. Some of the students don’t understand and they need to be pushed by somebody. And if the colleges and universities are designed to satisfy their students, what if the students just DON’T NEED to do their homework?
I agree with Sally Hunt that “a student-centric assessment system could lead to grade inflation, but no improvements in standards”. Colleges and universities are not designed to make their students happy, but to educate them.
Not everything in the world is a business. I am afraid that treating the students as consumers may attract a lot of business men to enter into the realm of education but not the real educators, and what the business men most care about is money, not the students.
But the pathetic thing is that the world is a big market, now every one is treated as a product. I am really concern about this.
It seems the commercial tendency is spreading, even in the education domain. There is a dilemma of satisfying the academic research or the commercial market. Treat students as consumers is not of the pleasure of some pedagogues who are sincere in their academic domain and hard to cater for the commercial demands. I know in Sun-yat sen university, some majors where a great deal of excellent teachers love their teaching content very much are not of market demanding but still be taken seriously, for example, anthropology, philosophy and so on. It’s a kind of education for academic. The other kind is a commercial one. Because the employers judge the students by diploma and certificates, so we students usually hurry up to various exams to chase all related certificates and the schools also justify their education schemes to produce market-matched students. Although the first kind is indispensable, the latter kind is apparently of the majority now. An important thing is to make the students of their certificates, not just for a stepping stone to a job but also for real ability and learning.
The article above put foreword the problems that the China’s education exit. The paper also analyze the situation of other country’ education and reveal their issue. Maybe there is not an education that China can use completely. But in my opinion, we can study the business model to solve the current problems of Chinese education. Chinese higher education is a not successful education model. A great many students are not quality to the social’s development and demand. Although they get the diploma but they only gain a paper. Many of them lack practice ability, so lot of students are out of work after graduation. The employers do not like to hire a people that go out of college because of their lack of ability of practice. So Chinese education should change current education system, and then make students be creativity and be real special skill person.
Higher education is become more and more commercial in china even through over the world but I don’t think it is a praise phenomenon because higher education refers to well-balanced education for everyone. If higher education organization is absolutely insatiable of profits, I think people cannot get the equal opportunity for education and meanwhile the development of science and technology would go backward because most of basic subjects is not associated with profit. We must believe a word: profit always is short-sighted.
I can’t agree the view that higher education is business. The utility of higher education should consist of two aspects. One is to promote the developments of academy, while the other one is to make the students match the request of the society. Both should be put emphasis on.
It seems that something is wrong in the current education system in China. It’s a big business, which has a large contribution to the GDP. In addition, what is attained in our education is not fit for the demand of the employers. The education misses the market need.
What confuses me mostly is how to express myself efficiently, using English. I believe that the purpose, or the final application of a language is using the language to present one’s perspectives to others, with little misunderstanding. However, what we received in the University, when it is before graduation, seems to be no use. I think I should make more effort to gain the skills—comprehensible English output.
Indeed, there are lots of problems in the system of Chinese higher education. First, the expansion of universities in recent years is too quick, and they enroll too much student, leading to the fierce competition in graduates’ job-hunting as well as the shortage of skilled workers. To solve such problem, ministry of education can learn a lesson from its counterpart of Germany, where most high school student enters a technical school and end up as a skilled worker, only a small percentage of the graduate enter universities and they became professionals after graduation. Well, the situation here in China is just the opposite. Second, there are too few private universities in China, especially the ones with honorable reputation. Some people may argue that most employer don’t believe in diplomas granted by private schools; I don’t think this is the case. Since lots of educational institutes, such as the New Oriental School and Global IELST have gain their market share and are making considerable profit. The main reason that private universities don’t develop as good as public ones is that the government intervenes too much, leaving too little space for them to survive. There are some lesson can be learnt from America, where the most reputable universities, such as those of the Ivy League, are private. Besides, there are still tons of problems in education system can be discuss in China, I have to leave them for the next time, or else I can never finish this comment.