China: Education Overview
Contents
Administration
and Finance Governments
at the central, provincial, prefecture, municipal and county
levels have departments of education responsible for the
administration of education. According to the Education
Law the State Council and local people's governments at
all levels guide and administer education according to the
principles of management at different levels and responsibilities.
Education
at the secondary level is administered by local people's
governments under the leadership of the State Council. Higher
education is administered by the State Council and the people's
governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities
directly under the central government. Various ministries and other governmental
agencies operate their own schools. For example, the Ministry of Railways
operates several institutions related to rail transportation.
The People's Liberation Army operates the military medical
universities and the Chinese Communist Party operates the
Central Party School.
A
central authority does exist however, when it comes to the
conferral of degrees. All bachelor's, master's and doctoral
degree programmes are authorized by the Academic Degrees
Committee of the State Council. The standards in determining which school may confer
degrees is intended to be the same regardless of the organization
actually controlling the institution. As such, the Academic Degrees Committee is key in
determining which institutions and degrees are acceptable
for admission to study at Canadian institutions.
Size
Approximately
177,471,400 students are enrolled in educational establishments
at all levels. An additional 30,000,000 students are enrolled
in distance learning programmes.
Structure
Three
systems co-exist for primary and lower secondary education:
the 6+3 system, the 5+4 system, and the nine-year system,
with the 6+3 system predominate. Thus, the length of schooling
for primary education is six or five years, and for lower
secondary education, four or three years, for a total of
nine years. Secondary education is completed
in three years of full-time study. Vocational/technical
education is offered at the lower and upper secondary levels,
and in higher education institutions.
Higher
education in China is quite complicated; although there
are plans to merge most educational components into a new
Ministry of Education, the current system presents a wide
variety of organizations with control over education.
Competitive
entrance examinations are given at all levels of education.
Private
and Public Education
Private
education and institutions are officially encouraged in
China, however the general trend is for basic and higher
education to be financed by the State, and vocational and
adult education to be financed by other sectors.
Community-run
primary, lower and upper secondary schools offer courses
in accordance with the teaching programmes set by the State.
Higher education private programmes are generally offered
by well-known retired educators and professional organizations,
however, the quality of educational programmes varies widely. All institutions offering private instruction charge
fees for tuition.
Academic Year The
school year at the primary and secondary levels is divided
into two terms totaling 34 weeks of instruction. The first
term begins in September with a second term beginning in
March and ending in July.
Teacher
Education The
academic requirements for different levels of teachers'
qualifications are as follows: primary teachers must be
graduates of secondary-level normal schools (at minimum);
lower secondary teachers must be graduates of two-year normal
colleges or above, for teachers who teach in general academic
or specialized streams; upper secondary teachers must hold
undergraduate teaching credentials from normal or other
universities and four-year colleges.
Resources
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