May 12, 2022 at 1:23 am
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Recently, Renmin University of China’s withdrawal from the international university rankings has attracted attention from the outside world. Lanzhou University and Nanjing University also dropped out of the international rankings, Chinese media reported.
Education scholars told the BBC that Renmin University of China’s withdrawal from the rankings is a “business strategy”. Chinese universities can use the university rankings as a reference for running schools, but they should not only focus on and chase rankings. Some netizens also questioned how Chinese colleges and universities seek to achieve “world-class” without participating in international rankings.
why quit
China’s state media, China Central Broadcasting Corporation, quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that the school’s leadership has reached a consensus and made a decision on “Renmin University’s withdrawal from the international university rankings.”
The report quoted an insider as saying that China’s knowledge system has developed for thousands of years and is the oldest, richest and most profound knowledge system in the world. It innovatively develops Chinese cultural traditions, creates China’s independent knowledge system, and safeguards Chinese education. Sovereignty and cultural sovereignty, “The withdrawal of universities such as Renmin University of China from the so-called ‘international university rankings’ reflects the autonomy and courage of Chinese universities, Chinese education, and Chinese culture.”
The Central Broadcasting Network reported that in addition to Renmin University of China, Nanjing University has also made it clear that in the preparation of the “14th Five-Year Plan of Nanjing University” and the “Overall Construction Plan for Nanjing University’s “Double First-Class” Construction of Universities”, school development and discipline construction. All no longer use international rankings as an important construction goal. Lanzhou University also decided not to participate in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
On April 25, Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Renmin University of China. He said at the scene, “I hope Renmin University of China will implement the fundamental task of building morality and cultivating people, inherit the red gene, and make the belief of listening to the party and following the party a conscious pursuit of Renmin teachers and students.”
He also pointed out that China has a unique history, unique culture, and unique national conditions. “Building a world-class university with Chinese characteristics cannot follow others and simply use foreign universities as the standard and model. Rooted in the land of China, and blazed a new path to build a world-class university with Chinese characteristics.”
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It is unclear whether more Chinese universities will drop out of international rankings.
#Multiple famous schools withdrew from the World University Ranking# On May 11, it topped the trending search list on Weibo.
Some netizens ridiculed that Renmin University of China dropped out of the rankings because of its own strength. Weibo netizen “Middle-aged Drifting” said: “It has more backbone than the national football team… It’s not better than it is.”
Weibo netizen “Yulin Zhongting” believes that it is not necessary for Renmin University to withdraw from the world university rankings.
“‘Double first-class’ universities refer to world-class universities with Chinese characteristics. How can they be world-class without participating in world rankings?”
However, some netizens believe that it is reasonable for Renmin University of China not to follow foreign “foreign indicators”.
Weibo netizen “Three Red Flags 007” said: “I quit the international university rankings because I don’t want to follow their set of standards to build schools, such as the number of international students and donations. Many indicators are far from the actual situation in China. The so-called international standard is to cut the feet and fit the shoes.”
Meaning of ranking
Xia Yeliang, a former professor of economics at Peking University, told Radio Free Asia that the incident reflects the overall trend since Xi Jinping came to power. “The whole (China) has very obvious signs of decoupling from the West.”
But Professor Huang Jinhui, associate dean of the School of Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, believes that Renmin University’s withdrawal from the rankings is a “business strategy”.
“Unlike Peking University and Tsinghua University, Renmin University is not ranked very high in the world, and it is not very beneficial to itself, so it is not actively involved,” Huang Jinhui told the BBC.
Huang Jinhui also pointed out that rankings should only be a reference for universities. Sometimes universities pay too much attention to rankings, which may have the opposite effect: some young researchers will study some specific directions in order to adapt to the trend. progress.
Xiong Bingqi, director of the China 21st Century Education Research Institute, told the BBC that there are no “international indicators” or “foreign indicators” in all world university rankings, and comparable common indicators are used; these indicators are not made by foreign universities. metric, but a ranking metric listed by a ranking agency.
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“We don’t even know the nature of the rankings, so we run schools according to the indicators set by the ranking agencies, pursue the promotion of rankings, and don’t pay attention to connotation development and talent training. This is the real problem of Chinese universities.” Xiong Bingqi said.
Xiong Bingqi pointed out that the World University Rankings is the result of scoring and ranking universities by an institution according to its own indicators. He believes that a university’s rational attitude towards the world university rankings should be “just take a look” and don’t take it too seriously. However, in recent years, many Chinese universities have attached great importance to the world university rankings, pursuing the so-called international reputation, and even running schools according to the indicators of the university rankings. Seriously misleading the school.
Xiong Bingqi believes that universities can use rankings as a reference for running schools, and analyze the progress, deficiencies and problems of running schools, but they cannot “rank only”. This is the way to rationally treat university rankings.