The China Media Project is pleased to extend an invitation to our readers to attend a lecture on April 16 by Zhang Ming, a professor of political science at Renmin University of China. Zhang, an expert on political systems in China, will discuss the challenges facing China’s push to improve its higher education system.

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The Quagmire of China’s “Great Leap Forward” in Higher Education
WHEN: 5:30pm to 7pm, April 16, 2008 (Wednesday)
WHERE: Foundation Chamber, Eliot Hall, The University of Hong Kong
China’s “Great Leap Forward” in higher education originated as a reform project in the second half of the 1990s. The idea was to rapidly improve China’s universities by making major capital contributions, but officials gave little thought to the need for structural reforms. The result was the rapid bureaucratization of China’s higher education system, undermining the scholastic environment and encouraging academic corruption. In this lecture, Professor Zhang Ming, one of China’s most active scholar-bloggers, will analyze the root causes of the current predicament facing higher education reform in China, and discuss possible solutions.
About the speaker:
A professor in the political science department at Renmin University of China, Professor Zhang Ming is an expert on the history of political systems and rural politics in China. Professor Zhang is also well known for his commentaries for various Chinese media, and as an active blogger at http://blog.sina.com.cn/zhangming1.
Enquiries: Ms Rain Li (2219 4001/ [email protected])