China had made great strides in many areas of its higher education in the past 10 years, distinguished Chinese education expert Xu Zhihong told the Chicago Union Club Sunday.

Xu, former president of China's prestigious Peking University (PKU), delivered a speech titled "The Current State, Development and Challenges of China's Higher Education" at an event co-sponsored by the PKU Alumni Association - Midwest and the Chinese Finance Association of America.

Xu was the 30th President of PKU from 1999 to 2008. He is currently a member of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Honorary Chairman of PKU Alumni Association and Chairman of PKU Education Foundation (USA).

Xu said, "China has made great progress in promoting popularization of higher education, building world-class universities, achieving a balanced development of higher education and improving its quality since 1998, when the Chinese government initiated the 21st Century Education Reviving Action Plan."

Xu introduced the 211 project, initiated by the Chinese government, which aimed at building about 100 key universities in China. "An over 10 billion yuan special fund has been designated to fund this project across the country," Xu said.

"Twenty years ago, it was hard to imagine Chinese scholars publishing papers at international journals, such as Science and Nature, independently. However, today, many scholars from first class Chinese universities are able to publish a series of papers at international journals every year," Xu said.

"The percentage of Chinese SCI papers in the world has increased from 3.05 percent in 1999 to 8.12 percent in 2008. This indicates a steady growth in China's academic influence in the world," he said.

Though China was dedicated to building world-class universities that would become an important source for science and technology innovation, Xu said Chinese universities were in transition and still faced many challenges, "such as insufficient funding, unbalanced development, unclear education principles and academic ethics."

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua after his speech, Xu said, "During my visit to the U.S., I met many Peking University alumni who work in various areas and contribute to the social development and scientific and technological advancement in the U.S. As excellent talent educated by Chinese universities, Chinese in the U.S. not only become a window to showcase China's higher education, but also play a critical role to promote exchange between Chinese and Americans."

He added, "After discussion with many other presidents from top international universities, we all agreed that today's young people lack communication skills, teamwork spirit and the ability to understand different cultures. Only by obtaining these abilities can they face greater challenges in the future."

Cao Jianye, science and technology consul from the Consulate General of The People's Republic of China in Chicago, along with nearly 100 people from the PKU Alumni Association - Midwest, the Chinese Finance Association of America and other Chinese organizations attended the event.