General education staggers forward in China

(Ecns.cn) -- Though the seed of general education is being sown in the Chinese mainland, it is still far from mature in terms of curriculum, teaching methods and systems used for evaluation, observes China Newsweek.

The concept of "general education" first arose in the United States in 1829. Since then it has played a very particular role in American higher education, yet in the Chinese mainland it has been applied for less than a decade.

Designed for undergraduate students regardless of their areas of interest, general education was first introduced in China at Fudan University in 2005.

When Wang Mengqi entered the university in 2006, she was surprised to find that her roommates and classmates were from majors ranging from literature to finance, chemistry, biology and computer science.

Wang was told that the university had adopted a new educational system: in the first academic year all students would be expected to satisfy a range of general education requirements; from the second academic year on, they would return to their own faculties and focus on their areas of study.

The general education courses don't have to relate to a student's major but must be relevant to one of the six fields, namely history and humanities, philosophy, civilization, science and technology, environment and biology or the arts, says Wang.

At first, there was a course tagged "Innovation and Starting a Business" for freshmen, but it was later rescinded because it did not conform to any of the six fields, according to China Newsweek, which notes that the university's general education curriculum changes every year.

Following Fudan, many other colleges and universities in China have since dipped their toes in the water, and so far the efforts have been successful.

In 2009, the Boya School of Sun Yat-sen University started providing general education for freshmen, aiming to give them a broader preparation for the world. Its first group of students will graduate next year.

Last September, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics extended its general education courses to all students majoring in liberal arts. A year later, they will be allowed to change their specific areas of study.

Even the relatively little-known Dongguan University of Technology has initiated an experimental class this year, in which 30 students are currently receiving a year of general education before they decide their majors.

However, nearly all universities have debated over what general education requirements should be.

At Boya School, Latin is the most contentious course, as students all consider it too difficult a language to learn, says Wang Chengjiao, who teaches Latin there. But learning Latin is good for the students, as it helps them to understand Western classics and traditions, he says.

At Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, some professors assert that Chinese traditional culture should be emphasized in general education programs, while others think Western science and technology are more worthwhile.

The students are also confused. At Boya School, a senior majoring in the Japanese language says she still doesn't know what she should specialize in. She says that college life is just like high school, because many courses are not what she is interested in.

Institutions in China sometimes lack specialists fit to instruct general education, as university teachers are mostly scholars with research achievements in specific fields, says Gao Quanxi, a law professor and doctoral advisor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

After three years of searching for an ideal academic specializing in the history of Western economics, our university still can't find one fit to teach a general education course, adds Gao.

There are many problems in the development of China's general education, Gao says, but higher education administrators should understand that it aims to bring out the best in students, giving them the tools they need for better lives.