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Beijing vies for greater control of foreign universities in China
- gruez 9y agocan we get the title changed? actual title: Beijing vies for greater control of foreign universities in China. also, paywall bypass: facebook.com/l.php?u=https://www.ft.com/content/09ecaae2-ccd0-11e7-b781-794ce08b24dc https://www.ft.com/content/09ecaae2-ccd0-11e7-b781-794ce08b2...
- GauntletWizard 9y agoWhy would we give a title that's pure spin?
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoThe current title implies that China wants control of universities foreign to (outside of) China, not foreign universities operating inside China. That China has foreign universities operating inside it at all is a concept foreign to most of us. Heck, it’s probably news to most people inside china as they are relatively new things. I’m not sure what you expect from NYU Shanghai, of course the government is going to meddle and make students take political indoctrination classes. That’s just how China is. I’m more surprised anyone would expect otherwise.
- madhadron 9y agoIf that wasn't the deal they promised the universities, then the universities have every right to act surprised.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoThe Chinese government breaks their promises all the time as convenient, they’ll only pretend to open up a bit and then promptly close things back up once they got what they wanted. That should have been, and most probably was, expected also.
- gruez 9y agoeven if they were genuinely surprised, there's nothing stopping them from pulling out, is there? sure, the government can seize the campus or whatever, but the real value to them is the branding + profs, both of which can be unilaterally revoked.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago1. Sunk costs. 2. They don’t really care and already expected this. I believe these are also JVs with lots of Chinese capital involved.
- jiggunjer 9y agoWhat costs? I bet the government paid for the campuses. It has an incentive to keep citizens inside their borders. Universities already charge top-dollar for admission of overseas students, so they might not make much more trading a price drop for a volume rise.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoThey definitely have some exposure, NYU shanghai for example is a huge effort from both shanghai municipal sources and NYU proper. The government does provide subsidies in the form of land, but the venture typically books land appreciation right away which they are loathe to lose (the same thing happened with Microsoft’s Beijing campus). So perhaps it is more accurate to say they have something to lose even if their initial investment wasn’t that large.
- jacquesm 9y agoConsistency.
- sctb 9y agoThanks, we've updated it from ”China orders foreign universities to give broad powers to party officials”.
- matchsetpoint 9y ago> The Chinese Communist party has ordered foreign-funded universities to install party units and grant decision-making powers to a party official, reversing an earlier promise to guarantee academic freedom as President Xi Jinping strengthens political control over all levels of education. Sounds like Xi Jinping is really gearing up for possible re-education of college students with communist ideals and more importantly, party loyalty. Also rejection of human rights, educational freedom, and democratic ideas. Will this affect China's already low innovation capability? most likely. EDIT: also, there have been alot of these desperation moves by the communist party this year. From recently banning Katy Perry from performing in China because she wore a Taiwan flag in 2015, to banning Winnie the Pooh. There must be panic within the party halls regarding the economic decline.
- fellellor 9y agoWhy do you think the Chinese have low innovation capability? From what I hear in the news, the opposite seems to be true.
- hd4 9y agoThat explains why Apple and all the big Android manufacturers are basing their designs and innovations on what comes out of the Chinese phone makers, oh wait..
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoYou mean the Japanese sharp screen xiaomi took and created a non viable product around. Oh, wait....
- matchsetpoint 9y agoThought exercise: China's been open for 40 years. Think of all the inventions from China in the last 40 years. Contrast that with Japan in 1990.
- ACow_Adonis 9y ago
- hd4 9y agoI wish I could ask them how long they think they can keep the outside world outside? And wouldn't the shock for the Chinese people just be that much worse when control over the information inevitably breaks down? I've posted this more than once but I'll so it again because it's ridiculous how relevant this quote from a 20~ year-old game (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri) describes our current political state of affairs so well. "As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
- jimbokun 9y agoThey can keep the outside world outside as long as they want, if their goal is to become North Korea.
- hd4 9y agoI don't get how the irony doesn't just hit them like a brick. Foreign universities but with central control, like what's the point of even having a foreign university then, just send your kids to Chinese universities if you're that worried they might learn things they "shouldn't". Better yet, stop sending them to university at all since you don't seem to understand the fundamental reason of higher education and you seem to worry about how impressionable and susceptible they are to western thought and the possibility that they might actually learn to form their own opinions.
- umanwizard 9y agoWhat you think the “whole point” of higher education is is very Western-centric. You might need freedom of thought to become a philosopher or sociologist, but you certainly don’t need it to become an engineer, mathematician, businessman, etc.
- crispinb 9y agoBeing the fierce defenders of academic freedom that they are, the foreign universities affected will no doubt now withdraw from China to the extent that their current contracts allow.
- Feniks 9y agoNone of this should be a surprise to anyone. Chinese soil Chinese law.
- hd4 9y agoIt's gotta be sheer coincidence that every article/thread on HN critical of China, all the comments questioning the Chinese state get voted down. Season 3 of Mr Robot hasn't gone far enough IMO.
- vfulco 9y agoWhat we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men.