Diversified higher education system acceptable in BRICScountries: Times Higher Education | | Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education BRICS and Emerging Economies Rankings 2014.(Photo provided to People's Daily Online) |
Supporting national key universities to become world leading universities before others isacceptable for the purpose of achieving a balanced development in higher education inBRICS and emerging countries. Times Higher Education’s Editor Phil Baty told People’sDaily Online.
Baty believes China should keep providing a generous funding to leading institutions andencourage other universities to concentrate on national or local priorities.
The following is the excerpt of People's Daily Online's written interview with Phil Baty afterthe ranking was released on Dec. 5.
PD Online: How do you see the development in higher education of BRICScountries?
Phil Baty: China is very much ahead of the other BRICS when it comes to developingworld class universities. It prioritised support for leading universities back in the 1990sand it is now seeing the benefits of that support, with two world top 50 universities andmore top 100 universities than any other country in this new BRICS & EmergingEconomies Rankings.
India is the next strongest - it has an elite group of specialist institutions, the IndianInstitutes of Technology, which do well, but it has perhaps been so heavily focussed onmeeting the extremely high demand for additional university places that it has allowedquality to suffer. Student numbers have exploded, but quality has not been maintained.
There are now moves in India to drive up quality, and to improve the researchinfrastructure and to distribute research funding on a more competitive basis. These arepositive things. Brazil has many pockets of research excellence which is very encouraging,but Brazil has perhaps been slowest to globalise. The low take-up of English in Brazil is stillan issue. Russia has had a problem with 'brain drain' but it is now working to try to attractleading talent back to Russia with reforms.
PD Online: What should be those emerging countries including China put onthe top of higher education agenda?
Phil Baty: China perhaps provides a model for the other BRICS countries in terms offocussed, generous funding to a selected group of leading institutions, backed by a strongcampaign to attract international talent. Perhaps the final steps holding China back fromtrue greatness in higher education are more autonomy for its universities, to allow them tobe more flexible and dynamic in a global market, and further pedagogic reform, toencourage more creativity among the next generation of great scholars.
PD Online: How do you see the imbalanced development of higher educationof emerging economies?
Phil Baty: I think it is perfectly acceptable to have a highly diversified higher educationsystem - this allows the development of a smaller number of leading research institutionsto compete on the global stage and to truly push the boundaries of knowledge and to leadthe innovation and knowledge economy, while other universities concentrate on national orlocal priorities, with more emphasis on teaching and providing a skilled workforce. Thisdiversity of mission allows resources to be carefully targeted and is the direction manycountries, including the UK and US, have gone in.
（Editor：WangXin、Huang Jin） Related reading
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