Xi targets education in bid for tech self-reliance
President also stresses importance of ideology to ensure students ‘listen to the party’
China needs to upgrade its education system to support the country’s drive for technological self-reliance, as well as attract more international students.
President Xi Jinping delivered the assessment at a study session of the Politburo, the Communist Party’s top decision-making body, state news agency Xinhua said.
The party made nurturing science and technology talent a major policy at its national congress in October, vowing to break bottlenecks in tech development, particularly in computer chips, amid tech sanctions by the US.
Calling for faster progress in the area, Xi said education was a “strategic precursor” to building a modern China and an important support for achieving greater science and tech self-reliance.
He stressed the importance of ideology in education to ensure students “listen to the party”.
“[We must] focus on strengthening the education of socialist core values, guide students to establish firm ideals and beliefs, always listen to the party and follow the party, and devote themselves to the country and the people,” he was quoted as saying.
He said China needed to step up “management” of textbooks, so Beijing could “firmly grip” the correct political direction and values in its education system.
Xi also said priority should be given to hastening the development of world-class universities, shaping strong basic emerging disciplines and fostering cross-discipline research, “aiming at the frontiers of the world’s science and technology and major national strategic needs”.
He told officials to “systematically analyse” talent development trends and gaps, and focus on China’s major strategic needs according to science and technology development trends. “[We should] dynamically adjust and optimise the disciplines of higher education [and] train urgently needed strategic talents in a targeted manner,” Xi said.
He also called for better coordination of vocational education, higher education and continuing education, to provide factories and the workforce with “highcalibre technicians and skilled workers, great craftsmen with [outstanding] skills”.
He said it was important to effectively use world-class educational resources and innovation factors to build a world hub for education with broad appeal.
Xi also stressed the need to improve the attractiveness of China’s education to the outside world, to balance the outflow of Chinese students studying abroad and the flow of international students coming into China.
“It is necessary [for us] to actively participate in global education governance, vigorously promote the ‘study in China’ brand, tell better stories about China, spread China’s experience and make our voices heard … to enhance the international influence and discourse power of our country’s education,” he said.