Five-Year Plan for Education
China is set to release its 13th five-year plan on education in 2016, with the intention of deepening reform and encouraging modernization in the education field. The National Development and Reform Commission has outlined its intentions to gain Non-Government sector investment and encourage cooperation between urban and rural areas for education over the next five years. The commission also emphasized that China’s central and western regions will be a key focus for the 2016 – 2020 period, with compulsory education enforced in less developed areas, teaching facilities improved in the regions and importance placed on high school enrolment. Increased bilingual education in minority areas has also been highlighted for development. Click here for the full article.
Source: Xinhuanet
Growth Opportunities in China’s Private Education Sector
The Chinese government has tipped the education service sector to be one of the five industries set to increase economic growth in the coming years. With private school education accounting for approximately 25% of China’s total education sector, and more than 40 million students educated in private institutions, Chinese law makers are revising legislation on non-government education. Past laws restricted the registration of private schools to non-profit organizations making investment opportunities limited. However, with a goal of attracting more investment to the sector, the reworked legislation will accept private schools to be registered as profitable entities. Click here for the full article.
Source: CCTV America
Are Australians mastering Chinese?
As the partnership continues to grow between China and Australia following the FTA, trade and cultural links need to be strengthen if Australia wish to maximize its benefits with China. A key contributor is basic proficiency in Mandarin. The Australian governments education policy of 2013 put forward a proposition that year 12 students should be taking a language, preferably Asian by 2024. Within Europe studying a second language is almost mandatory with languages such as French, Spanish, German and English taught in every high school. In 2012 the business council of Australia stressed that we must not rely on our Asian- Australians for all our engagements with China, instead we must educate our population at a young age through strong relationships and cultural understandings. A medium language would profoundly benefit international trade. Click here for the full article.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
China’s Education Development
The Minister for Education Yuan Guiren has commented last week that the quality of China’s education is equal to that of numerous medium to high-income countries. This statement followed a third party assessment of China’s educational gains over the last five years since the creation of the medium to long-term education development plan. Currently, kindergarten enrolment is 75% and net enrolment of primary schools is 99.9%, averaging that of medium to high-income nations, and attendance in the nine-year compulsory education system exceeding mean levels of high-income countries. Click here for the full article.
Source: CCTV English