Independent schools need serious reform

The dismissal of Liu has captured wide attention. People sympathize with Liu and condemn the university, and some even think it is time to remove the certification from such independent colleges as Bowen College that Liu worked with.

Independent institutions first appeared in the late 1990s and have developed rapidly under the backdrop of China’s college expansion plan. Bowen College was founded in 2002.

Independent colleges refer to institutions providing undergraduate degree education that are established by universities jointly with social organizations or individuals. They are private institutions, not public ones, but they can enroll students using the reputation and influence of the universities they cooperate with. They can also invite faculty members from their parent universities to give teachings and instruction, so that the universities can justifiably get reasonable payment from independent colleges.

For nearly two decades, independent colleges have made their own contributions to higher- education development. But there are also problems. These colleges are established by their parent universities, but are run highly independently. In many cases the universities have no power to rein in the independent colleges while the latter doesn’t care much about hurting the former’s reputation, as shown in Liu’s case. Both sides benefit when the independent colleges run well, but the parent universities are blamed more if bad things happen to the independent schools.

Liu’s case has to some extent mirrored the problems of those independent colleges and reforms are needed. Under the background of China’s supply- side reform on education, they are facing some transformations.

Perhaps a clearer division between public and private schools is a solution. Turing those independent colleges into either purely public schools or purely private ones, letting them be responsible for their own deeds can help resolve the puzzle.

There are a number of prestigious private universities abroad, which shows that the power and enthusiasm to run private schools should be encouraged. Of course, there must be one condition – letting more forces from private sector to join the trend, enhancing private schools’ competitiveness.

But for those independent colleges and in particular in dealing with cooperation between public and private universities, it is time for some real reforms.