2nd round of discussion on education reform launched

China's State Council Information Office has launched the second round of its public information-seeking meetings to reform education.

The public will provide their thoughts and opinions on national guidelines of medium and long-term education reform and development.

China's education guidelines have attracted nationwide public interest. The first round of public wisdom-gathering last year received more than a million suggestions.

One proposal from academics is to give universities more freedom in independent enrolments.

Prof. Rao yi, Dean Biotech. School, Peking University, said, "Education is like a garden where all flowers bloom together. Different universities should have different guidelines and development strategies. Students ought to study at the universities that suits their academic needs. This will create a greater diversity of talent."

The role of professors has also been discussed in the establishment of a modern university system.

Lin Jintong, Former Pres. Beijing Univ. OF Posts & Telecom., said, "Professors play a key role in education. "Professor" is far more than a title, rather it is a leader of a creative group. The function of this group is to cultivate talents, convert knowledge to productivity and strive to achieve academic goals."

Students have also shown enthusiasm in contributing to the academic reform.

Ku Xiaohui, Student of Beijing Normal University, said, "I come from a rural area, so I'm very concerned about the rural education. Reform of the National College Entrance Examination, especially Independent Enrollment policies, has made great progress. But rural students have few advantages under current policies. I think it would be fairer to allocate a certain proportion of independent enrolments to rural students."

These are only several opinions from the first round. The second round starts today and will last for a month.