China Daily Global Edition (USA)

Be rational about university rankings

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IN THE LATEST QS WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS, an annual publicatio­n of university rankings by Quacquarel­li Symonds, a British company specializi­ng in education, Tsinghua University has risen from number 25 to 17, and Peking University from 38 to 30, and among its list of the world’s top 100 universiti­es, six are from the Chinese mainland. Guangming Daily comments:

However, It is too early, as some have done, to praise the Chinese universiti­es for having made remarkable progress, because different rankings employ different standards.

Almost at the same time, the Center for World University Rankings, a consulting organizati­on headquarte­red in the United Arab Emirates, published its world university rankings, saying that the Chinese mainland only has two universiti­es among the world’s top 100 with Tsinghua ranked 92 and Peking University 98.

There are various kinds of university rankings, and it is good to know which fields they value most. It is natural for the Chinese universiti­es to climb up these rankings quickly, because they pay special attention to encouragin­g teachers and researcher­s to engage in academic researches, which is directly reflected in the number of theses they publish, an important criterion for most rankings. (y ngl o jījīn zhōngyāng tiáojì zhìdù)

The enterprise employee basic pension insurance fund central adjustment system work conference was held on June 11 in Beijing. Premier Li Keqiang instructed that the establishm­ent of enterprise employees' basic pension insurance fund central adjustment system is of great significan­ce to enhance the sustainabi­lity of the basic pension insurance

But that does not mean the Chinese universiti­es have already reached a world-class level. Instead, a common problem with the Chinese universiti­es is the teachers attach so much importance to publishing academic theses that they do not have enough time and energy to teach the students. The worldclass universiti­es attach more importance to the original value of the academic world, rather than paying attention to how many papers are published.

The universiti­es should concentrat­e on teaching, rather than being thesis mills. If the research fruits cannot benefit teachers and the students, the research will miss the point.

That it can be headline news for a famous professor to teach undergradu­ates speaks volumes about how far our universiti­es have drifted from their original mission.

The educationa­l authoritie­s should include teaching in the evaluation criteria for teachers.

Pension fund central adjustment system

system, balance the basic pension insurance fund burden among various regions and promote the fairness of the public's basic pension insurance rights.

Due to the migration of workers and unbalanced regional economy, the old-age dependency ratio, the scale of pension fund pool and payment pressure of basic pension vary in different provinces and regions. An adjustment mechanism at the central level is required to enable the sustainabi­lity of the basic pension system nationwide.

The basic pension insurance fund central adjustment system draws a certain proportion of capital from provincial basic pension funds to form a capital pool, which enables the central government to redistribu­te it among various provinces and regions.

Local authoritie­s are required to enhance overall planning and coordinati­on, do the work of collecting, allocating and managing the money from the central adjustment fund, and improve the assessment system.

Meanwhile, local authoritie­s are required to take responsibi­lity for issuing the basic pension, strengthen revenue and expenditur­e control and effectivel­y prevent and resolve pension payment risks.

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