"If I had another chance, I would choose Haidian University again rather than a public university," said Wu Nan, a sophomore with the Information School of Haidian University, one of the oldest private universities in China.
"I like the flexible teaching and management here," said Wu.
The flexibility of private universities, which began to re-emerge after China launched its reform and opening-up in 1978, has attracted an increasing number of young people like Wu.
China, with a population of 1.3 billion, has only about 1,000 public universities. Statistics show that only 47 percent of high school graduates are able to go to college.
To give more young people access to higher education, the Chinese government has encouraged non-governmental participation in education.
Private universities in China have stepped out of the difficulties they used to experience during their initial stages in the 1980s.
Statistics indicate that the number of higher education institutions run by non-governmental agencies tops 1,300 with 1.5 million students, or 39 percent of the total college and university students nationwide.
In some provinces, the private sector accounts for over half of local universities.
Jiangxi Province in east China has 45 private higher learning institutions with 87,000 students, who are equal to 66 percent of the students in public universities.
According to official figures, there are 12 private universities in China with each having more than 10,000 students.
Beijing-based Haidian University used to have only eight specialties with 284 students in 1984. Now the university has 98 specialties with about 20,000 students.
"We enrolled more than 9,000 students in 2001 and held the opening ceremony in the Great Hall of the People, the venue for important meetings in China," Principal Fu Zhengtai said proudly.
"The vitality of private universities lies in their range of specialties and the way they take the employment market into consideration," said Hong Chengwen, a professor with the Beijing Normal University. He said social need is a major driving force behind private universities.
"We have an expert committee for every specialty to investigate the market. This helps to decide which specialty we should establish," said Zeng Yuhong, director in charge of enrollment in the Haidian University.
The university has many interesting specialties such as visual arts and agency services, which are established in line with the demands of economic development in Beijing.
Private universities employ teachers from top public universities. Half the part-time teachers in Haidian are experienced teachers from top universities like Tsinghua University and Peking University. Haidian also employs full-time teachers with doctoral degrees gained abroad.
Private universities attach great importance to their graduates' employment prospects. The Lantian Professional Technical College in Jiangxi has enrolled 12,000 students from 28 Chinese provinces and municipalities and all its 3,000 graduates in 2001 have found jobs.
Many of the Haidian graduates have been employed by well-known companies like the Peking University Founder Group Corp., the Tsinghua Tongfang Co., Ltd. and the Legend Group.
Some private university students travel abroad to further their studies through scholarships. Others have been admitted to Harvard and Cambridge Universities.
Wang Wenyuan, associate research fellow with the Beijing Science and Education Institution, said private universities in China have acted as a complement to public universities by training people with practical talents to meet social demands.
"The prosperity of private universities is also a catalyst to educational reform in this country," Wang said, noting that private education has exerted some influence in changing Chinese people's view of education from a "social welfare" to a "special service."
The flexible systems of private universities provide new ideas for public universities which are also being reformed, Wang added.
However, analysts say problems still exist in China's private education, such as finance, governmental policies, concepts and management.
As part of a national effort to give equal rights to both private education and those funded by the government, China is now drafting a law on the promotion of non-governmental education.
(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2002)
