Party construction emphasized in colleges

University CPC chiefs urged to lead academic, ideological work

Secretaries from Chinese university branches of the Communist Party of China (CPC) are encouraged to play a bigger role in pushing forward Party construction work, a move to cultivate more committed successors of socialism with Chinese characteristics, experts said.

China’s Ministry of Education (MOE) recently issued a notice urging secretaries of university CPC branches to play a leading role in both academic and Party construction work, the ministry said on its website Monday.

The decision enhances the Party’s guidance of universities and improves university teachers’ ideological work, it said.

Many universities focus less on Party construction work, because their work evaluation is closely related to academic performance rather than ideological education, Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the Chongqing Party Committee, told the Global Times.

The MOE said that university CPC branch secretaries will all play a leading role in both party construction and academics by 2020, while cultivation and motivation mechanisms will be developed for teachers.

Enhancing universities’ Party construction work also helps cultivate more committed successors of socialism with Chinese characteristics, said Zhu Lijia, a professor of public management at the Chinese Academy of Governance. “Once the teachers are motivated to promote Party work, students will also participate.”

There were 2.11 million student Party members by June 2016, or 7.7 percent of the total number of college students, with 79,600 Party branches in colleges, the People’s Daily reported in 2017.

Many teachers and students once considered Party membership an advantage in getting promoted and work at Stateowned companies and the government. Universities should carefully scrutinize the people’s motives and their loyalty to the Party, Zhu said.

Compared to many other institutes, enhancing Party construction work in universities faces more obstacles, Su said, noting that some university teachers and students are not completely aware of our country’s status and needs. They instead blindly worship Westernstyle education and culture, which leads them to neglect Party construction work.

Deng Xiangchao, deputy head of the School of Art at Shangdong Jianzhu University, was forced retire by the university’s Party committee in January 2017 and to stop teaching-related activities both on and off campus, after he posted controversial comments about Mao Zedong online, news portal thepaper.cn reported.

Deng was also removed from the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

CPC authorities and the MOE issued a document in July 2013 urging colleges to place utmost importance on political standards in recruiting Party members and demanded a control on the “number and structure” of student Party members.