Report to The Carnegie Foundation Board of Xnistees, Novesber 1991

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THE CARNEGIE-CHINA CONNECTION

November 1991 marks the third anniversary of The Carnegie Foundation's agreement with the National Centre for Education Development and Policy Research of the State Education Commission of the People's Republic of China, As we enter the final year of this agreement to collaborate in strengthening higher education in China, we are evaluating our contribution, planning for cur next visit, and considering prospects for the future.

By all accounts, the Carnegie Foundation's connection with China has been highly influential among education policy-makers at the national level According to our advisor. University of North Carolina political scientist. Professor Hsi-Sheng Chi: 'Carnegie was identified as a major source of ideas on education during the State Education Commission's first visit in 1988, A report was prepared,, After the 1988 visit which was distributed to many provincial education administrators. Some of the ideas were reported in articles published subsequently in the PRC's educational journals." Professor Ch'i was told that some of our ideas wee incorporated into a set of reforms that the Politburo's Standing Committee was on the verge of approving when the Tiananmen incident occurred. Although these new educational policies became a casualty of the political backlash after Premier Zhao was removed from office, the Carnegie Foundation's stature remained high, and our visit to China in November 1989 reestablished our working relationship with the National Education Commission.

The meetings we arranged last spring for the Chinese delegation in Princeton and Atlanta were significant, in part, because the State Education Commission chose to bring with them leaders from some of the provinces: Uaoning (in Manchuria), Guangdong (Canton), Sichuan, and Shanghai (although the latter. In the end, was unable to come). During this two-week long "collaborative seminar." our guests visited several campuses and heard over thirty speakers address such issues as: "Diversity in Higher Education." "Localization in Higher Education,* the "Rule of the Professoriate." and "Assessment in Higher Education." The provincial delegates, in particular, found the meetings useful for broadening their knowledge of American higher education and its solutions to problems that they, in their provinces, also face. According to Professor Ch'i: "Carnegie has scored a big success inasmuch as its purpose in setting up the conference was to provoke critical thinking on educational policies and trigger a debate among influential Chinese educational leaders to find better ways to solve their problems,"

Our plans for the next exchange are designed to build on, and broaden, this success. Specifically, we hope to bring a "travelling seminar" to China next spring, focussing on perhaps two of the provinces whose chid" education officers visited us last May. Our party win probably Include from three to five expels on areas of special interest to the Chinese, for example, agricultural extension, connections with the local community, and faculty assessment and our program will try to bring these ideas to a broader range of Chinese educators, by holding seminars not only in the provincial capitals, but also in some of the lesser provincial towns. If this format works well tt might become a model for future delegations to China, organized by The Carnegie Foundation, or by someone else. -

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The future of the Carnegie-China connection wiH almost certainly be on the agenda for our meetings in China with Mme, Hao, Director of the National Center for Education Development Research, Clearly, the interests and needs of the Chinese will be central in charting the course, but we, too, must decide how this kind of consultation fits in with our own developing international program. Over the next several months, this will be a topic for discussion and reflection, as we consider the various ways in which the Carnegie Foundation can help shape, and also I earn from the education experience of other countries.