Laba, a junior student in the Tibetology Department of Tibet University didn't take a break even during the summer vacation; instead, he has been busy studying by himself on campus and plans to take part in the postgraduate examination before he graduates next year.

The graduation of the first batch of postgraduates trained in Tibet this year has aroused great media attention. They have become examples to other young people. "We have many opportunities of sitting for postgraduate examinations at present," said Laba. Tibet University alone has three master's disciplines. Laba plans to register for the Tibetology major.

Due to limited majors and the numbers able to enroll in postgraduate studies in Tibet Autonomous Region at present, more young Tibetans choose to pursue advanced studies in inland cities.

In recent years, Tibet Autonomous Region has signed cooperative agreements with some key universities including the People's University of China, Tianjin University, Sichuan University. They are responsible for training postgraduates for Tibet. Currently, there are 94 Tibetan postgraduates studying at People's University, 18 at Tianjin University and 20 at Sichuan University. People's University first enrolled 34 students in Tibet in 2000 from over 400 candidates.

Like young people in inland cities, many young Tibetans not only study in famous universities of inland cities, but also choose to study abroad.

Graduated last year, Suonan Yangji will soon study in the University of California in Berkeley. She said: "I go to study abroad at my own expense. Although the expense is not small, my mother wants me to go and learn more at the time when I am young even if she has to borrow money."

Self-study is also a channel of pursuing advanced studies. Since 1999, The Economic and Trade Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region has jointly organized Master's Degree classes in Tibet with Sichuan University and the Sichuan Business Administration Institute. So far, 25 students have obtained their MBA degree and 61 students have obtained a diploma in business administration.

According to Ma Guangyao, vice chief of the Tibetan Education and Science Research Institute, young Tibetans' pursuit of advanced education is related to the requirement of social development. In the 1980s, Tibetan youth craved for secondary schools in order to get a job earlier. At that time, Tibet Autonomous Region had specially publicized some policies to encourage them to study in colleges. Currently, various industries of Tibet have a larger demand for well-educated personnel. Take the education system, for example: Tibet plans to enable all teachers at middle schools or beyond to achieve the undergraduate level. Therefore, study has become a trend in Tibet, now.

According to the statistics issued by the Statistical Bureau of Tibet Autonomous Region, the number of well-educated people has increased rapidly during the past 11 years. At present, 33,000 people have received college education in Tibet, which account for 1.3 percent of the total population, and the figure is higher than the average level of the country. Compared with the situation in 1990, the number per 100,000 of population achieving college education has increased from 565 to 1,262.

(china.org.cn by Wang Qian, August 29, 2002)