China - Provincial Universities Project

The World Bank O OMCIAL USE ONLY C* A /GV-C/@5 RePwt No. 5673-CHA STAFF APPRAISAL REPORT CHINA PROVINCIAL UNIVERSITIES PROJECT February 25, 1986 Projects Department East Asia and Pacific Regional Office Thb daemaet ha a rIed dldlrbus. ud my be mad by redpnts only In the ped.rzuie et tbmr .dal dudi It re antI may not ulbe be dldosd witbut Wwid Bank aatherzztion.  CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS Currency Unit = Yuan (Y) 1985 January 1986 US$ 1.00 = Y 2.80 Y 3.20 Y 1.00 = US$ 0.36 US$ 0.31 (Project cost estimates are based on the January 1986 exchange rate of Y 3.20 per US$1.00.) FISCAL YEAR January 1 - December 31 ACADEMIC YEAR September 1 - August 31 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AAPRC - Audit Administration of the People's Republic of China CNTIC - China National Technical Import Corporation CRC - Chinese Review Commission FILO - Foreign Investment and Loan Office IAP - International Advisory Panel ITC - Internatonal Tendering Company PHEB - Provincial Higher Education Bureau. (Throughout the report the terms "provincial" and "provinces" are used to refer to provinces, autonomous regions, and the three municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin which are considered equivalent to provinces). SEdC - State Education Commission SOE - Statement of Expenditure SPC - State Planning Commission  FOR OFFICALL USE ONLY CHIINA STAFF APPRAISAL REPORT PROVINCIAL UNIVERSITIES PROJECT Table of Contents Page No. BASIC DATA ,.................. - iv - CREDIT AND PROJECT SUMnARrY ........... . .... .......... v - r. OVERVIEW OF EDUCATION IN CHINA ....... Education Overvie 1 Higher Education Overviev .... 3 Types of Universities ... 5 Finance of Higher Education............ .. .. 9 II. COVERNENT AND BANK GROUP OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY 10 National Objectives in Higher Education . 10 Enrollment Ex-pansion .................... . . 10 Improvement of Teaching and aesearch Program.. 15 Management Reform ........16 Bank Croup Strategy and Assistance to Education in China. - - ..... .... 17 III. THE PROJECT . . ...... ....... 19 Project Objectives and Scope 19 Project Components ........... ....... .......... 22 Civil Works, Equipment and Technical Assistance 28 Monitoring and Evaluation ......... ........... 31 IV. PROJECT COSTS, FINANCING AND IMPLEMENTATION .32 --osts ..... .. ..... ...... ...... ..32 Financing ..... . .36 Implementation. .. 37 Procurement .........39 Disbursement ...41 Accounts & Audits . . .43 V. BENEFITS AND RISKS . Benefits ..43 Risks ..44 VI. ACREEMENTs REACHED AND RECOMKENDATION .44 This report is based on the findings of an appraisal mission in November/ December 1984 comprising F. Farner (mission leader), C. Gilpin, K. Ogawa (Association), L. Insuasty (UNESCO), C. Ruang and H. Thompson (consultants) and a postappraisal mission in March 1985 comprising F. Farner and S. Z. Sung. This domnt has a resictd dsibution and may be used by cpients only in the performace of tofficia duties. Its content may not othrwie be dicosed wihout Wod Bank authorization.  - ii - Page No. Tables in Text 1.1 Parameters of Chinese Education, 1984 and 2000 ............. 1 1.2 Sumary of Teacher QuaLifications, 1982... ................. 3 1.3 Higher Education Institutions in China, 1984............... 4 1.4 Pre-service Teacher Education Structure.................... 7 1.5 Departmental Organization of Provincial Normal Universities ............................................. . ............ 8 2.1 Education Profile by Age, 1982 .. 12 2.2 Percentage of University Graduates in the Labor Force by Sector, 1982 ....................................... ..... . 13 2.3 Enrollment Targets for 2000, by Type of Institution ........ 14 3.1 Basic Data on Project Universities ......................... 21 - 3.2 Project Coverage of Provincial Universities by Region ...... 23 3.3 Enrollment Expansion in Project Universities, 1984-90, by Type ....................... .. .. .. 24 3.4 Sumary of Staff Profile in Project Universities ........... 26 3.5 Sumnary of Technical Assistance Costs by Type of Institution .... ........... ....... 30 4. Summary of Costs by Project Component ...................... 33 4.2 Summary of Project Costs by Category of Expenditure........ 34 4.3 Estimated Unit Costs by Type of Institution ................ 35 4.4 Overall Financing Plan by Category of Expenditure and Source of Funds ................................... 36 4.5 Procurement Arrangements .................... 40 4.6 Disbursement Forecast ...................................... 42 Charts in Text 1. Higher Education Enrollment in China and Other Selected Nations ............................. 11 2. Project Organization Chart ............................................. . 38 ANNEXES 1. Comparative Education Indicators 2. Enrollment in Provincial Universities, by Type, by Province, 1984 3. Analysis of Curriculum Content and Enrollment by Kajor Department in Provincial Normal Universities, 1983 4. Admissions Test Results by Province, 1984 5. Provincial Universities, by Type, by Province 6. Demand and Supply of Senior Secondary SchooL Teachers, by Specialization, 1984  - iii - 7. Projected Enrollment of National & Provincial Universities & Colleges, 1983-90 8. Target Indicators for Monitoring and Evaluation of Institutions, 1985 9. Guidelines for Equipment and Book Selection and Procurement 10. Staff Development Programs 11. Project Costs by Type of Institution 12. Project Costs by Province 13. Synchronization of Project Implementation Cycles 14. Implementation Schedule 15. Documents in Project File NAP Location of Project Universities (IBRD 19054R)  - iv - ,.^A P,DyINCIAL UNIVERSITIES PR,OJECT $avic. Dta (1984) gopul4tion, and Labor FE,tce .T,QD4 ,, ricdtMe . 44dasr OtbeF fiF ".a=- Population (1983) 1.025 wlu - - 1.3% Labor Force (445 mln)(1982) 72% 13% 15Z 2.7Z Educ,atiLo. Lower Upper Postsecondary Size of sector Pri _erycodary secondary & higher _, Grades 1-5 or 6 6-9 9-12 13-16+ Enrollment (mln) ^ 143 39 7 2 Gross enrollment ratio (%) 95 48 10 3 University Subsqctor Number of Undergraduate Z of total Tvpe.of inst..ttutiop institution egrollment, ('000) enrollmu,t National 301 681 51 Provincial of which: 601 666 49 Normal 233 236 18 Comprehensive 24 79 6 Technical 59 72 5 Medical 91 98 7 Agricultural 42 54 4 Other 152 127 9 .IQW 202 1,3,47 1]00 Expen4iture on Education Total educ. expenditure as Z of GNP 4' 3.1% Gov't educ. expenditure as % of total government exp. 7.1% Gov't educ. capital exp.as Z of total gov't capital exp. 4.5% Gov't educ. recurrent exp. as % of total gov't recurrent exp. 8.1% Distrtbution of public recurrent exp. on education primary 38% secondary - 40% h'gher 22% la In formal education.  v CHA PROVINCIAL UNIVERSITIES PROJECT Credit and Project Summary Borrower: People's Republic of China Amount: SDR 108 milLion (US$120 million equivalent) Terms: Standard Project Description: The project objective is to assist provincial universi- ties and the State Education Commission (SEdC) to expand enrollment as well as improve the quality and management of higher education programs. The project will have two components: (a) Assistance to Provincial Universities; and (b) Assistance to Higher Education Development. The first component will assist 60 universities by providing for civil works, equipment for teaching and research, curricula reorganization and staff development oppor- tunities such as fellowships, study tours and specialist services. Emphasis will be given to teacher education programs. The second component will assist SEdC and PHEBs to strengthen their planning and management capacities mainly through provision of technical assistance. Two planning activities to be executed by SEdC with the assistance of the provinces will be supported. The higher education masterplan will: assess the requirements of industry, agriculture, commerce and government; set enrollment targets; and locate areas where new institutions are needed to meet requirements for educated manpower. Teacher demand and supply plans will examine enrollment at each level of education, assess size and quality of the existing teacher stock and set targets accordingly for pre- and in-service teacher training. As in previous education projects, an International Advisory Panel (IAP) has been established for the purpose of the project, and will be maintained to advise the Government on project implementation. The principal risk of the project would lie in the variation of implementation ability among the 28 pro- vinces. This risk is reduced by: (a) excellent perfor- mance in SEdC's project implementation in previous projects; (b) active involvement of the SEdC Planning Bureau in the two planning activities; (c) strong commitment shown during appraisal by the provinces to meet criteria for inclusion in the project; and (d) the contribution of the IAP.  Estimated Costs (July 1986-June 1992): Local Foreign Total ($ million) A. Assistance to Provincial Universities Normal universities 78.1 96.9 175.0 Comprehensive universities 49.6 67.2 116.8 Technical universities 24.9 24.6 49.5 Medical universities 7.3 13.2 20.5 Agricultural universities 4.0 6.4 10.4 Subtotal 163.9 208.3 372.2 B. Assistance to Higher Education Development 3.6 1.7 5.3 Base Cost 167.5 210.0 377.5 Physical contingencies 16.8 21.0 37.8 Price contingencies 17.6 44.1 61.7 Total Cost /a 201.9 275.1 477.0 /a Imported equipment, books and journals would be exempt from duties. Financing Plan: Local Foreign Total -($ million))- Government 202 155 357 IDA 0 120 120 Total 202 275 477 Estimated Disbursements: Association Fiscal Year 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 - - T$ million)7 Annual 6.0 26.0 49.0 25.0 11.0 3.0 Cumulative 6.0 32.0 81.0 106.0 117.0 120.0 Rate of Return: N.A.  I. OVERVIEW OF EDUCATION IX CHINA Education Overview 1.01 During the remainder of this century China's educational system will adjust in severaL ways: (a) declining population and therefore enrollment in the primary and lover secondary levels; (b) changing patterns of grades which vill add grade 6 to all primary schools and extend the secondary level to include grade 12; (c) higher enrollment ratios at the secondary and tertiary levels; (d) increased numbers of pupils per teacher at the secondary and tertiary levels; and (e) more vocational emphasis at secondary and post- secondary levels. Table 1.1: PARAMETERS OF CHINESE EDUCATION, 1984 AND 2000 Levels of Education Lower Upper Postsecondary Primary secondary secondaryla and higher Units 1984 2000 1-984 2000 1984 2000 1984 2000 Ages served by level - 7-12 7-12 12-15 13-15 15-18 16-18 18-22 19-22 Crades offered by level - 1-5 or 6 1-6 6-9 7-9 9-12 10-12 13-16+ 13-16+ School age population m 136 94 82 44 73 48 68 73 Enrollment ratio Z 99 100 48 98 12 60 3 14 Enrollment m 135.5 94 39 42 9 29 1.4 10 Pupils per teacher - 25 26 18 20 14 14 3.5 7.5 Number of teachers m 5.4 3.6 2.2 2.1 0.6 2.1 0.6 1.3 /a Academic and technical/vocational streams. 1.02 Primary enrollment will be sharply affected by the remarkable 30Z reduction in the age group population caused by the success of the nation's family planning program. Offsetting this decline will be the Government's drive to attain full enrollment of children in remote and poorer regions and to extend primary education, which is at present offered to less than 20% of the primary school age group, to six grades. Although the official enrollment ratio for primary education is above 90%, the average attendance rate is estimated to be only 60Z and the percentage completing the entire primary  -2- cycle (five or 17ix years) may be as low as 302. Girls are more likely to drop out than boys.- 1.03 Lower secondary schools offering grades 7-9 will move toward universal access as the enrollment ratio is raised from the current 48%. Cities and economically developed areas mainly in coastal provinces are expec- ted to achieve universal access by about 1990 wbile towns and villages with medium level development will aim for this goal by about 1995. A more flex- ible timetable and assistance from the central government are required for the economically backward areas to attain universal access to lower secondary education. 1.04 At the upper secondary level major changes are foreseen. The government target is simultaneously to increase the enrollment ratio and pro- vide the opportunity for vocational education for students who are not college-bound. The vocational stream would have different emphases: agricul- turaL in rural areas, industrial and services in major cities depending on economic conditions and manpower requirements. The proposed increase in voca- tional education at the upper secondary level will require creation of schools and centers for both long-term and short-term training and investment in training of vocational teachers. 1.05 Special problems in the primary and secondary school systems are: (a) the prevalence of large numbers of small schools; and (b) a high propor- tion of unqualified teachers. In 1983 average school size was 158 for primary and 445 for secondary, both far below optimum levels (about 400 for primary and 1,000 for secondary). ALout 15% of all primary enrollment (i.e., about 20 million children) attend schools which are not large enough to have one class per grade. As many as a quarter of these small schools are unnecessa- rily small and the problem could be solved by consolidation. Many other small primary schools are the result of low population density in certain rural areas and/or the habitation in school catchment areas by two or more ethnic groups for which Government policy requires separate schools. 1.06 A second and more pervasive problem is the proportion of teachers at all three levels of primary and secondary education who are unqualified. At the primary and upper secondary levels only about half of the teachers may be considered qualified, and at the lower secondary level this proportion falls to 40% (Table 1.2). In numerical terms about 3 million teachers under the age of 50 require upgrading. The target for completion of this upgrading program is 1990, but so far the pace has not been sufficient to meet this target. 1/ Billie L. C. Lo, "Primary Education in China: A Two-track System for Dual Tasks" in Hayhoe, R. Contemporary Chinese Education, M. E. Sharpe, Inc. Armonk, N.Y. 1984.  - 3 - Table 1.2: SUMMARY OF TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS, 1982 Primary Lower secondary Upper secondary Number of Teachers (000) 5,420 2,146 451 Percent who are: Not qualified 12 13 7 Partially qualified 40 47 38 Qualified 48 40 56 Source: SEdC. Higher Education Overview 1.07 Chinese higher education consists of three levels: (a) Postsecondary - All non-degree programs of less than four years duration. The newly formed and rapidly growing polytechnic system is a prime example. (b) Higher Education - Four year or bachelor's degree programs. (c) Graduate Education - Master's and doctoral degree programs. 1.08 Another classification system for higher education which is widely used by the State Education Commission (SEdC) looks at authorities which con- trol the institutions (Table 1.3) and the general type of curricula offered. A continuing problem is the large proportion of the instituti?ns which are limited to one field of study. The system of "conventional"- institutions at present totals 902, of which 301 are controlled by national authorities. The remaining 601 institutions are controlled by provincial, and municipal autho- rities and are referred to as provincial institutions (Annex 2). The emerging system of 28 provincial television universities are not included in this total because they use less conventional delivery means. 2/ "Conventional" refers to the delivery mode of the institution. Conventional instruction generally involves structured teaching to a group of students in a classroom setting and tends to be full-time. Television university, correspondence schools and worker and spare time universities are considered non-conventional institutions.  Table 1.3: HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN CHINA, 1984 Type of institution National Provincial Total Comprehensive 14 24 38 Normal 9 233 242 Technical 173 59 232 Medical 23 91 114 Agricultural 15 42 57 Forestry 6 5 11 Languages 6 5 11 Economics and Finance 25 24 49 Politics and Law 9 6 15 Physical Education 6 8 14 Fine Arts 11 16 27 Minority Studies 4 6 10 Polytechnics 0 82 82 Total 301 601 902 Source: SEdC. 1.09 Curriculum. Courses of study are relatively uniform across all universities since SEdC controls content of curricula regardless of the level of government or agency responsible for management of the institution. This may change as the system embarks on a decentrali tion policy. Higher educa- tion curricula are generally divided into three - types of courses: politi- cal, general and subject majors (Annex 3). The political education portion, nearly identical in all institutions, consumes 6-12X of student contact hours in most fields. Similarly, students are required to take courses in foreign language and physical education which are also taught under a national curri- culum and occupy another 10-18% of student contact hours. Subject majors, which comprise roughly 70-80X of student contact hours, also have a large degree of commonality. Only in the upper division of a bachelor's degree pro- gram is a diversified curriculum offered, and even this diversity is somewhat limited. Electives, about 10% of total hours, are confined to the major sub- ject field only. Special needs of technical ministries and bureaux such as agriculture, health, railways, petroleum, coal, machine industry, et al., which have higher education institutions under their control, result in some diverse curricula in the upper division and at the graduate level in these institutions. But such courses comprise less than 20% of total contact hours in a bachelor's degree program. 2/ In normal universities and colleges a fourth type of course in pedagogy and psychology comprising 5-8% of contact hours is added by slightly reducing the percentages in the other three segments.  1.10 Admissions Procedures. For admission to higher education institu- tions, all students are required to take a very challenging national univer- sity entrance examination. This examination suffers from several technical weaknesses: its items are not tested before use, it is hand-scored and the essay-type-answers are graded by untrained and in many cases unqualified readers. However, it exists as the only availabLe tool for admission and is surprisingly well managed given the lack of computer assistance. Each year 7- 8 million young persons are tested at the end of their senior year of high school and within two months 300,000-500,000 are offered a university place. The examination is challenging and the 4-6X who are admitted under it have succeeded in running one of the world's most demanding education gauntlets. Nationally controlled institutions draw new students nationally, but provin- cial, mnicipal and county institutions draw only from their areas of juris- diction. In between are some regional arrangements where a nationally controlled institution is allotted prime responsibility for several pro- vinces. As would be expected, new admittees in the most distinguished universities have the highest examination scores. Although it is the Govern- ment' s long standing policy to assign jobs to national university graduates on a national basis, many graduating students prefer to obtain employment in their home provinces. Increasingly, applicants seek to avoid distant assign- men.ts by electing to go to provincial universities or municipal polytechnics (Annex 4 contains details of admissions by province). Types of Universities 1.11 National Universities. There are 96 key national universities, 26 are controlled by SEdC, the remainder by other ministries and agencies. These institutions enroll an average of 5,000-8,000 undergraduate students selected from the entire nation. Although constrained by dormitory limits, undergraduate enrollment in these institutions has been increasing at 10-15% p.a. in recent years. 1.12 Graduate programs are rapidly being initiated i , this type of insti- tution. with over 441 doctoral programs in place by 1982. Total graduate enrollment has surpassed 50,000 in the Ill institutions which have been autho- rized to offer doctoral programs. The distribution of authorized graduate programs varies greatly; Beijing University offers 45 programs, whereas many other universities offer only one program and 12 of the 29 provinces have no university authorized to offer a graduate program. 1.13 National universities controlled by ministries other than SEdC number over 200 and are usually more specialized with curricula directed to the technical needs of the controlling ministry. Their lower division program of studies is largely in standard science and social science disciplines with the usual political education, foreign language and physical education requirements (para. 1.09). In the upper division undergraduate students specialize in narrow fields related to the needs of the controlling 3/ Robert D. Barendsen, Doctoral Degree Programs offered by China's College and Universities. U.S. Department of Education 1982.  - 6 - ministry. On the average, a technical ministry can meet only about 40Z of its manpower needs through graduates of its own institutions. Many of these institutions have graduate authorization but far fewer than the comprehensive institutions. 1.14 Provincial Universities. The major types of provincial universities are comprehensive, normal (teacher education), technical, agricultural and medical. The remainder specialize in such fields as fine arts, physical edu- cation, commerce and foreign language (Annex 5). Comprehensive provincial universities vary. In the larger provinces they are nearly the equivalent of a national comprehensive university. Their curricula include most standard disciplines with undergraduate and, to some extent, graduate programs. Stu- dents are drawn exclusively from the province and are generally only slightly less able as measured by the entrance examination. They will be assigned jobs in the province upon graduation. However, in some cases in smaller provinces, a so-called "comprehensive" university may h.ve a small enrollment and offer fewer standard disciplines. Six provinces do not have a comprehens,ve university. 1.15 Normal universities and colleges are the largest category of provin- cial institutions with over one-third (233) of the total (601). They are divided into two classes: (a) "Major" normal universities total about 70 institutions, offering a four-year bachelor's degree program and usually a few graduate pro- grams as well. These institutions devote most of their resources to training upper secondary school teachers, but also produce profes- sional manpower for: (1) upper secondary normal schools which pre- pare primary teachers; (2) "minor" normal colleges (see below), (3) provincial and sub-provincial educational administration; (4) the university itself; and (5) graduate programs, usually in the same university. Students are drawn from the province as a whole. About 85% of the graduates actually go into education (about 65Z into teaching) immediately after graduation. (b) About 160 "minor" normal colleges offer two- or three-year, non- degree programs for the training of lower secondary school teachers. These institutions are structured to serve a clearly-defined geo- graphic portion of the province, and average four to seven per province. These colleges are one of the most neglected segments of Chinese higher education, suffering from the low prestige awarded to the teaching profession and the fact that they offer only a non- degree program. 1.16 The two types of provincial normal institutions are pert of the Chinese pre-service teacher education pyramid, which consists of five cate- gories of institutions (Table 1.4). The two national universities at the apex of the teacher education pyramid prepare very few teachers for the primary and secondary levels of education. Their output goes either into graduate educa- tion, staff for institutions in the lower categories of the pyramid or educa- tional administration. The four regional normal universities, also controlled by SEdC , serve much the same purpose as the two at the apex but produce more  Table 1.4: CHINA PRE-SERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION STRUCTURE, 1984 Admission Number of Number Con- catch- Names of years in of insti- trolling ment representative Level Type program tutions agency area Institutions Location 1. National Normal 4 + graduate 2 SEdC China Beijing Normal Univ. Beijing Universities courses East China N1ormal Univ. Shanghal 2. Regional Normal 4 + graduate 4 SEdC Groups Northeast Normal Univ. Changehun Universities courses of Central China Normal B provinces Univ. Wuhan Shaanxi Normal Univ. Xian Southwest Normal Univ. Chongqing 3. Provincial Normal 4 + 70 Provin- Provin- Beijing Normal College Beijing Universities ces ces Inner Mongolia Normal University Rohhot Northeast Normal Univ. Lanzhou Yunnan Normal Univ. Kunting Nanjing Normal Univ. Nanjing 4, Provincial Normal Colleges 2-3 160 Provin- Areas Northeast Inner Mon- ces within golia Normal College provinces etc. 5. Upper Secondary Normal Schools 3 1,008 Provin- Areas ces within provinces Source: SEdC Planning Bureau.  teachers. They also conduct correspondence programs which play a major role in the current crash programs for upgrading the qualifications of upper secondary teachers. 1.17 Major provincial normal universities play the most central role at present in view of the anticipated huge increase in the number of upper secondary teachers needed between 1984 and 2000 (Table 1.1). They are often as comprehensive as provincial comprehensive universities because the academic departments needed to produce teachers for the curricuLa of upper secondary schools cover nearly all aspects of a liberal arts university (Annex 3). The norm is 10-12 departments (a few of which are further subdivided): Table 1.5: DEPARTMENTAL ORGANIZATION OF PROVINCIAL NORMAL UNIVERSITIES SCIENCES SOCIAL SCIENCES HUMANITIES - (The Range of Percent of Total Enrollment in Parentheses) Chemistry (7-13) Political Sciences (5-13) Chinese Language ) (15-20) Physics (6-14) History (3-9) Chinese Literature ) Biology (6-8) Education/Psychology (2-5) Foreign Language (5-10) Mathematics (13-18) English Geography (4-7) Japanese Physical Education /a (1-9) Occasionally Russian, Cerman or French Fine Arts Art (2-3) music (2-3) /a Chinese practice is to place physical education under science because of its relation to physiology. Source: Enrollment percentages from Annex 3. The list of departments mirrors the curricula of a typical tipper secondary school. A preliminary analysis comparing the distribution of students of sample normal universities by departments and the distribution of teachers of sample upper secondary schools by specialization indicates that the normaL universities are enrolling students by and large in the proportion required by the upper secondary schools with the following two notable exceptions: (a) there is a significantly lower proportion of students specializing in foreign languages than the proportion of teachers needed in that discipline; and (b) there is a somewhat higher proportion of students specializing in biology than the proportion of biology teachers (Annex 6). Students are assigned to one department as freshmen and do virtually no study under other departments except for the required courses in physical education, political education and foreign languages. Education/psychology departments are especially weak in well-trained staff. Moreover, the number of contact hours for prospective teachers in all subject areas need to be increased and  pedagogical aspects introduced more in subject area courses. Normal universities have a distinctive character attributed to the fact that the university often offers the province's only program in fine arts, foreign languages, physical education and the language and history of minority populations in the province. In many ways the major provincial normal university becomes the province's seat of culture. 1.18 The minor normal colleges prepare teachers for lower secondary schools. At the bottom of the teacher education pyramid, the approximately 1,000 upper secondary normal schools prepare primary school teachers in a three-7ear program. The provincial normal universities provide the staff for these two levels of institution. 1.19 Provincial Technical Universities and Colleges, numbering 59 nation- wide, provide programs in selected fields in science and engineering. They are akin to the technical universities under national ministries other than SEdC. These institutions are important to the development of the provinces, since curricula and program are articulated with the needs of the provincial economies. 1.20 Provincial Medical and Agricultural Colleges (numbering 91 and 42, respectively) are limited in curricula, but not in distinction nor in their contribution to provincial development. The nationally controlled medical and agricultural colleges are unevenly distributed among provinces and the national system of graduate assignment is far from perfect. As a result, provinces may well have an unmet demand in these two important sectors. Moreover, in both sectors there are needs for new professional staff beyond what the national institutions can provide. Also both sectors provincial con- ditions vary and specialized training is needed. Health problems and their solutions vary between provinces and even within provinces. Similarly, agriculture must reflect climate and soil variations between provinces. Finance of Higher Education 1.21 Higher education institutions are financed largely by the authority responsible for management. Universities under SEdC are funded within SEdC's budget. The same principle applies for institutions under technical mini- stries and the provinces. The Bank Group estimates that on a national level about 22% of recurrent expenditure on education is allocated to higher educa- tion. This share has fallen marginally since 1980 as public expenditure on education overall has grow,r about 10% a year and in 1984 comprised about 8% of total public expenditure.4 Unit recurrent expenditure in higher education averaged about Y 2,000 in 1983, with key universities under SEdC and technical ministries about 20-30% higher, depending on field of study, and provincial and normal universities about 20-30% lower. Annual capital expenditure is estimated at about 10% of total recurrent expenditure and is mainly for expan- sion of physicaL plant and facilities and for much needed equipment. China 41 Financial support for education at all levels comprises 3.1 of GNP which is equivalent to the lower quartile of developing countries (Annex 1).  - 10 - estimates that its GCP will triple before the end of the century. Bank Group staff estimates that this anticipated economic growth - together with favor- able demographic trends and possibilities of improving internal efficiency - offers China the opportunity both to meet the financial needs of planned educational development and achieve quality improvements, without sharp increases in its allocation to higher education as a share of GNP. 1.22 Despite this largely favorable trend, resources for expansion and improvement of education are insufficient and Chinese authorities are explor- ing options to improve resource allocation among educational levels and increase resource mobilization. Although fees and related charges are applied at primary and secondary levels in China, most full-time students of higher education are provided free tuition along with full boarding and subsidies for food. Direct subsidies for students in universities can average as much as 20X of the institution's recurrent expenditure. Moreover unit recurrent costs in higher education are about 50 times those in primary education and 15 times those in secondary education. The Government has announced plans for gradual application of tuition fees for university students, including charges of full cost for students sponsored by their work units, combined with an increase in the proportion of non-boarding students in those urban locations where reason- able alternatives exist. However, in consideration of poverty areas, the Government plans to eliminate primary and lower secondary tuition and school fees for rural families in poor and remote areas. II. GOVERNMENT AND BANK GROUP OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY National Objectives in Higher Education 2.01 The Government has adopted three principal objectives for higher education: (a) enrollment expansion, especially in graduate programs; (b) improvement of teaching and research programs; and (c) management reform. Enrollment Expansion 2.02 The Government is keenly aware of the substantial waste inherent in providing less than 5% of the nation's youth with opportunity for education beyond secondary school, and places great reliance on international compari- son, especially with the more advanced developing nations (Chart 1). In 1985 China's higher education enrollment ratio surpassed the LDC median and reached 4.8%. For the upper quartile of developing nations, a level which China aspires to reach, the ratio is now 11.0x. Projections to the year 2000 sug- gest that the upper quartile of developing nations will reach 15% or higher. While useful for indicating the direction and pace of change, international comparisons of higher education enrollments must be viewed cauti3usly. Taken alone, they provide no explanation of differing historical conditions that have fostered or impeded formal higher education. They provide no evidence of quality. Nor do they generally capture significant non-formal approaches in China such as spare-time worker's education, correspondence programs and television university systems. However, three enrollment ratios (percentage of the undergraduate age cohort - 19-22 - which is enrolled in higher  - 11 - CHINA PROVINCIAL UNIVERSITIES PROJECT Higher Education EnroUment in CHART 1 China and Other Seected Naions Higher Education Enoe Ratb (S) 22 Republic of Korea 21_ 20- 19 17- 16- 15 -