Ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon! I am Li Xiaohong, President of Wuhan University, China. It’s my great honor to attend this summit and share my ideas on China’s experience in its efforts to build world-class universities. My presentation has four parts:
Firstly, an introduction to the world-class university project in China.
Secondly, achievements of world-class university project in China.
Thirdly, actions taken by Wuhan University to build a world-class university.
Fourthly, my suggestions.
Part one, Introduction to World Class University Projects in China.
In the last 3 decades, the constant growth of global economy and increasing investment in research & development have provided universities with great opportunities for development.
Meanwhile, many countries have carried out series of programs to facilitate universities’ development, e.g. “BK21Project” in South Korea, “Top 30 Project” in Japan, “Excellent Universities Project” in Germany, and “5-100 Project” in Russia.
In the 1970s, the development of key universities was kicked off in China and many important projects have been initiated to facilitate the development of higher education since 1993, among which “211 Project”, “985 Project”, “2011 Project”, “Action Plan for Top Universities”, etc. are the most significant ones. For example:
1.“211 Project” initiated in 1993 aims to build about 100 key universities with a batch of key disciplines and strong majors.
2.“985 Project” initiated in 1998 aims to build about 30 top universities.
3.“2011 Project” initiated in 2012 aims to build world-class collaborative innovation scientific research platforms.
4.“Action Plan for World-Class Universities” initiated in 2014 aims to build world-class universities and fields based on “211 Project” and “985 Project”.
Here we can see the amount of appropriation offered by the central government and the local governments for different projects. The Action Plan for World-Class Universities is the biggest project for Chinese higher education right now. Much more funds will be provided for Action Plan in 2014. This is good news for Chinese universities
Of course, this is a great challenge for Chinese universities. Here are two references. One is THE ranking or QS ranking, the other one is ESI fields. So Mr. Phil Baty, you know how important you are!
My second part is achievements of world-class universities projects in China.
With the support from the four projects, we can see progress in many aspects. For example, the amount of papers published in international journals have increased by 12.5 times within 15 years, which have ranked the 2nd in the world since 2009. The proportion of our papers in the total amount of the world is close to that of the U.S.A.
At the same time, with more higher level papers published, we ranked the 2nd in Nature Index in 2013. The total number of citation has increased in the past ten years, which ranks the 4th in the world, especially in some specific fields, such as engineering, chemistry, material science, computer and etc.
More fields in Chinese universities have entered top 1% in the ESI. For example, Peking University has 18 top 1% ESI fields, and our university has 11.
This figure tells us the performance of Chinese universities in THE ranking. 11 Chinese universities have entered top 400, among which Peking University and Tsinghua University are top 50.
Supported by those world-class projects, Chinese universities have made great development. In return, the universities have made great contributions to the rapid progress of Chinese economy, science and technology and culture.
Therefore, the world-class university projects initiated by China have been proved to be successful.
Part three is the actions taken by Wuhan University to build a world-class university.
WHU has been widely recognized in China for its long history, beautiful campus and initiative spirit. Established in 1893, because of its beautiful environment and picturesque scenery, Wuhan University is acclaimed as the most beautiful university in China.
With the consistent support from the Chinese government, WHU has ranked the 5th to 7th in China. It is also a university supported by “211 Project”, “985 Project”, “2011 Project”, and “Action Plan for World Class Universities”.
Now I’d like to introduce our actions in the following four aspects.
Firstly, faculty development, which is crucial to build a world-class university. Wuhan University has a population of 3683 faculty. We recruit deans of the 35 schools and departments through global search. And all the deans have international experience or overseas background. A stay of at least one-year abroad for study or research is required for the promotion to professors. And 10% of our faculty are authorized by national talents projects.
Secondly, cultivation of students is one of the major functions of a university. Our university places emphasis on the cultivation of students. And many students have won champions in different international contests.
Thirdly, a world-class university must have outstanding research achievements. In the fields of humanities and social sciences, we are strong in economics, philosophy, law, journalism, history, information resources and management, public administration, etc.
In the fields of sciences and engineering, we are strong in geo-spatial information science and technology, chemistry, hydraulic engineering, life science, mathematics, physics, stomatology and etc. In 2012, WHU’s “spatial information science”, acknowledged as one of the top 3 in this field worldwidely, was awarded the title of “The International Leader of Geographical Spatial and Information Science”.
Fourthly, a world-class university must be an international university. WHU and Duke University (Top 6 in the U.S.A.) have co-established Duke Kunshan University in 2013. WHU-Duke Research Institute, Research Center of Global Health, Research Center of Chinese Enterprises, Research Center of Entrepreneurs started to operate in 2014.
WHU focuses on developing high-level education for foreign students. At present, there are totally 2300 foreign students from 111 countries studying at WHU, among whom 22 are from Russia, 355 from India, 6 from Brazil and 4 from South Africa. A bunch of international elites such as Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister, Dr. Karim Masimov are alumni of WHU.
All in all, we aim to build WHU into a world-class university. By November 1st, 2014, 11 disciplines of WHU have ranked top 1% in the ESI. And WHU ranks 352nd, 335th, and 301st respectively in The Times Higher Education, QS and US news world universities ranking lists. It ranks 105th in the latest Nature Index published by the Nature Publishing Group.
In 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the great rejuvenation of “Chinese dream”. As President of WHU, I also have a “Wuda Dream”. I dream of an earlier achievement of Wuhan University becoming a world-class university! WHU’s strategic objective is to push itself into the world’s top 200 by the year 2023 and by the year 2043, to turn our university into a world-class university ranking among the world’s top 100.
The final part is my suggestions.
As for university ranking, I think we should pay more attention to the inheritance and innovation of national culture. We must realize that fields in humanities and social sciences have strong national characteristics. Therefore, I would like to request to Mr. Phil Baty that humanities and social sciences should be taken into consideration in ranking universities. If so, WHU would rank top 200 or even top 100 instead of the 352nd as it is now. In the process of building a world-class university, we must pay attention to our contribution to regional economy and society.
Today we are gathering at the call of BRICs. The five countries will take the responsibility of the tough tasks for the world’s future development. And universities from the five countries must support the national strategy for development; train more extraordinary intellectuals and yield more research outputs of higher quality to fulfill each nation’s missions; and involve actively in developing world civilization. Therefore, universities should contribute more to the development of regional economy and society in building itself into world-class universities. And this is also the adherent philosophy of WHU. I am very glad to see that in its first university ranking, USNews integrated universities’ contribution to regional development and their influence was integrated in the ranking index which weighs 12.5%.
As for the cooperation of BRICs universities, I propose to establish BRICs University Cooperation Organization and hold BRICs University Presidents Forum to regularly facilitate the communication and discussion of common issues among universities, and this will help to extend the cooperation and exchange beyond the governmental level so that universities, schools and researchers will be able to develop substantial cooperation in the aspects of scientific research and personnel training. WHU sincerely welcomes substantial cooperation and communication with your universities in your strong and distinctive fields. Let us develop stronger cooperation with more imagination under the principle of “Open-mindedness, integration, cooperation, and win-win.”
Dear friends, in the context of globalization, WHU always embraces the development strategy of internationalization. We make great efforts to cultivate qualified students and leaders, as well as fully participate in the international collaborative research in order to solve a series of important scientific puzzles behind the challenges that human beings are confronted with. Let’s work together and I look forward to seeing more world-class universities from BRICs. Thank you all!
