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China's Higher EducationExaminations for Self-taughtLearners

Colin Latchem and Lu Xinzheng

In Open Learning 13(3), Desmond Keegan discussed the two basic models of distance education -synchronous andgroup-based and asynchronous and individual-based - and referred to 'the Chinese Examination System' as anexample of individual-based distance education without pre-prepared materials. Colin Latchem, an Australian con-sultant in educational development and open learning and Lu Xinzheng, a researcher at the Office of HigherEducation Examinations for Self-taught Learners in The People's Republic of China, provide details of this majoropen learning initiative which has attracted little attention outside the PRC but attracts many millions of studentswithin that country. The Higher Education Examinations Self-taught Learning or HEESTL operates on the assump-tion that the students have the capacity for autonomous learning, the motivation to work towards the sub-degreeand degree level National Unified Higher Education Examinations, and the ability to seek out whatever additionaltuition or support they may need within their own communities. It relies upon state and provincial governments,nominated universities and colleges and other public and private providers to support these students. The papersuggests that in its assumptions and mode of operation, HEESTL inherits and builds upon the age-old Chinese tra-dition of imperial examination and self-teaching. It examines the origins of HEESTL and its management, opera-tions, and educational and socio-economic benefits, and discusses some of the improvements needed for HEESTLto further assist the PRC in achieving its Ninth Five-year Plan for Nationwide Educational Development.

The years of the 'Great Proletarian CulturalRevolution' and its aftermath (1966-1976)denied a whole generation of Chinese school

leavers the opportunity of college and universitystudy, thus compromising their employmentprospects. The Deng Xiaoping years which fol-lowed saw The People's Republic of China (PRC)embark on the Four Modernisations in agriculture,industry, national defence and science and technol-ogy. The country was opened up, institutions werereformed and the economy was reconstructed. TheNational Higher Education Entrance Examinationwas resumed, many new universities were estab-lished, and plans were put in place to train the hun-dreds of thousands of technical personnel neededfor the various modernisation programmes. The1980s and 1990s saw a move from a centrally-

planned to a market-governed economy, rapid eco-nomic growth, many major development pro-grammes, and the devolution of some centralpowers to the provincial level - all of whichresulted in an unprecedented and unmet demandfor students with university, college and technicalqualifications.

In September 1997, at the start of the academicyear, China had 2,127 higher education institutions(HEIs) with a total enrolment of approximately 5.9million students. Almost 3.2 million of these stu-dents were enrolled in the 1,020 conventional uni-versities or 'regular HEIs'. By State Councilregulation, these regular HEIs restrict entry to stu-dents aged 25 years or under, and in 1997 just overone million first-year places were competed for bymore than 2.8 million senior high school students

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through the National Higher Education EntranceExamination. The older students may enrol in the1,107 adult HEIs, which have a total enrolment ofover 2.7 million, or in the evening or correspon-dence programmes offered by 800 of the HEIs.

The HEIs' offerings have been constantlyadapted to the country's social and economicdevelopment needs, with significant increases inenrolments in science, engineering, medicine andeconomics. To achieve a more balanced studentcomposition, the state has also increased the pro-portion of new entrants to the sub-degree pro-grammes provided by the HEIs and there has alsobeen a strengthening of the specialised secondaryschools which, over the past ten years, have pro-duced more than 23 million vocationally qualifiedpersons.

The state has vigorously promoted adult anddistance education. China's Central Radio andTelevision University and 44 Provincial RTVUs,which together constitute the world's largest dis-tance teaching university system, were establishedin 1979 on the initiative of Deng Xiaoping. Between1979 and 1996, 2.95 million students registeredwith, and 2.13 million students or approximately14 per cent of the nation's graduates graduatedthrough, these RTVUs (Sun and Li 1997; Ding 1998;Latchem, Abdullah and Ding 1999). Many conven-tional universities provide correspondencecourses. The Tsinghua and Zhejiang Universitiesnow also deliver distance education by satelliteand some universities have set up Web-based class-rooms on the Internet. The PRC's first virtual insti-tution, the Multimedia Information EducationCollege of Hunan University, was established in1997.

Whilst impressive, these achievements andgraduation rates have to be considered in the con-text of the world's third largest developing countrycovering 9.6 million square kilometres (3.7 millionsquare miles) and with a population of 1.24 billion,of which only 25 per cent live in the main cities andtowns. In 1997, only 7.6 percent of the college-agepopulation (18-21 years of age) were able to enrolin the HEIs and these were typically in the moreeconomically developed provinces (StateEducation Commission 1997a).

In the early 1980s, the situation was even morecritical. In 1980, the PRC had only 675 HEIs, anenrolment quota of 280,000 and an annual gradua-tion of 147,000 (Pan 1998). In 1981, out of every10,000 Chinese, there were only 13 university grad-uates, 73 senior school graduates and 1,460 pri-

mary school graduates (Kang 1998). Such a majorcontradiction between rapid economic growth anda serious shortage of qualified personnel was notsomething that could be resolved through theconventional or distance teaching HEIs with theirstrict admission requirements. The Ministry ofEducation decided therefore to launch a new openentry adult learning system, the Higher EducationExaminations for Self-taught Learners (HEESTL).

The establishment of HEESTLHEESTL was first proposed by the Ministry ofEducation in January 1981. Later in that year,the State Council approved and conducted pilotprogrammes in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin andLiaoning Province. In 1982, the 5th NationalPeople's Congress Standing Committee passed therevised Constitution of the People's Republic ofChina (the original was in 1954) and included inthis was the Article 'To encourage people tobecome educated through self-taught learning'. In1983, the State Council ratified the establishmentof the National Steering Committee of HigherEducation Examinations for Self-taught Learnersand by the end of 1985 almost all of the provinces,minority nationality regions and central adminis-trative municipalities had established localHEESTL committees. In 1988, the State Councilapproved and issued the Provisional Regulationsfor HEESTL which further promoted and assuredthe future of the system.

HEESTL has been designed to:• offer unlimited numbers of people, especially

those previously denied the opportunity andunable to leave their work, access to HEI study;

• avoid any unnecessary restrictions and open upall possible channels for talents and learning;

• promote the development of individual self-learning, community assistance, universityguidance and state examinations for sub-degreeand degree level study;

• provide learning as a gradual and sequentialprocess which the learner can control and adjustto;

• be impartial and unbiased;• be easy to enter but hard to graduate from;• deliver on-the-job professional and post-college

training;• select and train professional elites;• serve the needs of the socialist drive for mod-

ernisation.

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The nature of HEESTLHEESTL is open to all citizens of the PRC, regard-less of gender, age, ethnicity, racial origin, level ofeducation, place of residence or occupation. Thereis no entrance examination and no limit to the sizeof the enrolment or numbers of people wishing totake the examinations.

The structure of education in China is as follows:

Postgraduate (doctoral and masters degrees)I

Undergraduate (bachelor degrees)I

Short cycle college (2- or 3-year college-levelcourses)

ISpecialised secondary school (vocational

education, 2-3 years)I

High school (3 years)I

Junior high school (3 years)I

Elementary school (6 years)

HEESTL provides for study at the following lev-els of vocational education:• Specialised secondary school (2-3 years equiva-

lent).• Short cycle college (2-3 years equivalent sub-

degree programmes including vocational edu-cation and training, teacher training etc.).

• Degree level leading to a bachelor's degree (4years equivalent).Traditionally, graduates of adult higher educa-

tion were not awarded degrees, and in fact degreeswere only introduced into the Chinese higher edu-cation system in 1981 (Cheng, Jin and Gu 1998).Even today, 82.4 per cent of the HEESTL tertiarycandidates are enrolled in the sub-degree shortcycle college courses and only 16.6 in degree levelprogrammes (NEEA1997).

The HEESTL programmes comprise:• general courses;• elementary specialised courses;• specialised courses.

These are at a ratio of 2:5:3 in the sub-degree lib-eral arts programmes, 3:4:3 in the sub-degree sci-ence and engineering programmes, and 2:3:5 in thedegree programmes. There are also compulsoryand elective courses of study and the ratio of theseis 9:1 in the sub-degree programmes and 7:3 in the

degree programmes. To satisfy the requirementsfor a bachelor's degree, students have to completea thesis or practical work supported by an oraltestimony.

As Keegan (1998) observes, HEESTL operateslike the University of South Africa in its early years,the long-standing external degree programme of theUniversity of London, and some other early Britishdistance education providers. It is flexible in itsmodes of study and timelines but provides only themost basic of resources - all that the students receiveon enrolling are the examination syllabuses of theNational Steering Committee of Higher EducationExaminations for Self-taught Learners, the recom-mended texts and reference books and, occasionally,videotapes. The learners are expected to be self-motivated, capable of identifying and accessinglearning resources and able to study independentlyat work or at home. Should they so wish, they canenrol with a local college or university, an RTVU orany other public or private provider offering pro-grammes that relate to the courses they are studying.There have been some discussions about possiblecollaboration between HEESTL and the RTVUs. TheRTVUs were originally constrained by government-imposed quotas and the requirements of theNational Higher Education Entrance Examination.Since 1995 however, they have been trialling openentry systems (Sun 1997; Niu et al 1998) and theMinistry of Education requires these open entry stu-dents to take one third of their examinations throughHEESTL (Lou 1998).

To give an example of the motivations andopportunities of HEESTL students, the authors ofthis paper were being driven around Beijing by agovernment driver who turned out to be anHEESTL student. When asked why he had enrolledin this programme, he explained that he hadworked hard and performed well at school, felt thathe could do better than be a driver for the rest of hislife and had ambitions to become a businessman.He spent a large part of his day waiting around inthe car for official meetings to end and had decidedthat he could usefully devote this time to formalstudy. When questioned as to why he had not beenstudying while waiting for the authors on that par-ticular day, his reply was that he had been sittingthe HEESTL examinations for the whole weekendand had promised himself the day off!

HEESTL offers multi-level entry. Students canembark on their studies at sub-degree or degreelevel. They can take whole programmes or study

inmnHo

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one course at a time and there is no limit to the timetaken for study or graduation. HEESTL also offersflexible long-term course credit and subject-accu-mulation systems. Credits earned in sub-degreeprogrammes are recognised for the purposes ofdegree studies, and diplomas gained in conven-tional institutions can also gain exemption inHEESTL. The students accrue credit through theNational Unified Higher Education Examinationsfor Self-taught Learners which are held at nomi-nated centres throughout China over the last week-end in April and October of each year. They can optfor examination in one course or several courses. Ifthey fail, they can re-sit whenever they wish and asoften as they need. Each course completed is cer-tificated and after completing all the requiredcourses and gaining the necessary credits, the stu-dents receive their specialised secondary, sub-degree or degree level diplomas. A single creditnormally entails 18 hours of study. Sub-degreegraduation requires 70-85 credits and a degreelevel diploma 70-90 credits. The practical work,thesis and oral defence for the bachelor's degreeare additional to these requirements.

HEESTL has been shown to be economical andefficient, providing the state with additional quali-fied personnel without a commensurately higherlevel of investment. Some typical costs incurred byHEESTL students are given below (the basic unit ofcurrency in the PRC is the yuan or renminbi (RMB)which is pegged to the US dollar at 8.3 RMB to 1USD):

Examinee majoring in engineering

Registration (20 courses @ 24 yuan) = 480 yuan(RMB)Textbooks (14 textbooks @ 20 yuan) = 280 yuanAssessment of practical work (4 assessments @ 60yuan) = 240 yuanAssessment when graduating = 40 yuanTotal = 1040 yuan

Examinee majoring in liberal arts

Registration (20 courses @ 24 yuan) = 480 yuan(RMB)Textbooks (14 textbooks @ 20 yuan) = 280 yuanAssessment when graduating = 40 yuanTotal = 800 yuan

Examinees submitting their theses towardsbachelor's degrees are required to pay an addi-

tional 100 yuan, and students may incur furthertuition costs by enrolling with public or privateproviders but the system is still affordable for thesocio-economically disadvantaged. To put thesefigures into context, the average cost of study for aconventional HEI student is 2,500 yuan per annum(Kang 1998). The large number of enrolees gener-ates sufficient income to help maintain the system.The average cost to the state for each examinee is340 yuan. Millions of yuan are saved for other formsof state investment. And the more knowledgeableworkforce directly or indirectly creates additionalwealth for the nation.

By the end of 1996, more than 20 million peoplehad taken part in HEESTL, there were 6.1 millionexaminees on record and 1.54 million had gradu-ated - 77,000 at degree level and 8,000 at bachelordegree level (State Education Commission 1997b).By the second half of 1997 (the 1998 data were notavailable at the time of writing), the accumulativetotal of HEESTL students had reached 26 million,the number of recorded examinees was 9.3 million,and the number of graduates, predominately atdiploma level, was 1.81 million. Every year, twice ayear, over five million HEESTL students or 0.4 percent of the total population take the examinations.The average pass rate is about 50 per cent. Theoverall graduation rate is as yet relatively low at 7per cent (NEEA1997).

In considering the graduation rate, a number offactors must be taken into account. Firstly, it mustbe noted that although HEESTL was instituted in1981, enrolments were relatively low until the sec-ond half of 1992. In the late 1980s, rising prices, highinflation and confusion in the market and financialorder led to a slowing of reform and the devalua-tion of knowledge and higher education qualifica-tions. Then political reforms led to an ending of thestate monopolisation of employment, and gradu-ates becoming cadres (functionaries in govern-ment, the armed forces and state enterprises), andthe introduction of the socialist market economy.The 'breaking of the iron rice bowl' entailed an endto job security, guaranteed wages and (for cadres)guaranteed status. Many people saw opportunitiesin the new enterprises mushrooming around thecountry and were simply too busy to study forexaminations. This situation was reversed in the1990s when there was retrenchment in the moneymarket and a recognition that a market economyentailed risk and uncertainty. Diplomas anddegrees were then recognised as important prereq-uisites for employment and promotion in the pub-

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lie and the private sectors and, from this point on,there was significant growth in HEESTL enrol-ments (Bian 1998). Secondly, the learners havewidely varying prior learning, study skills, workexperience, conditions of learning and support sys-tems. And thirdly, the completion times are flexibleand many students are still working their waythrough to the point where they are confident thatthey can meet the unified national standards ofthe examinations set by the National SteeringCommittee.

HEESTL enrolees include husbands and wives,parents and children, brothers and sisters, co-work-ers, members of the People's Liberation Army andcommunity groups. On the degree programmes, 47per cent of the enrolees are female and on the sub-degree programmes, 54 per cent. The majority ofenrolees are fully employed adults and 66 per centare aged 25 years and under. The youngest learnersare teenagers who have failed to gain entry to theregular HEIs through the National HigherEducation Entrance Examination. The main groupsof employed persons are teachers, factory and officeworkers, cadres, army personnel and farmers.HEESTL also attracts many retired persons. Oneformer teacher, who had never had the chance to goto university when he was younger, graduatedthrough HEESTL at the age of 80 (Pan 1998).

HEESTL is the only higher education system inthe PRC that will accept prisoners as students. Theprison authorities encourage prisoners to enrol inHEESTL and arrange for temporary examinationcentres within the gaols. In Guiyang, 297 prisonersregistered with HEESTL between 1985 and 1995,and to date ten of these have gained their diplomasand one a degree. In another gaol, a prisoner serv-ing an 18-year jail term gained his diploma inChinese after eight years of study and planned tospend the remainder of his term studying for a sec-ond diploma in English, only to have his sentencecommuted in recognition of his achievements. Inanother case, a university student sentenced to lifeimprisonment continued with his studies and byspecial arrangement, presented an oral defence ofhis graduation thesis and thus gained his degree.

Between 1993-1995, HEESTL attracted morethan 40,000 learners with physical disabilities,some of whom had been previously rejected byconventional institutions. Ge (1998) points out thatthe PRC recognises the importance of educatingthe disabled, to turn a social burden into a sociallyproductive force. However, economic constraints

may lead conventional higher and secondary insti-tutions to reject disabled applicants, not for anylack of intellectual capacity but because of theirphysical defects and lingering social prejudice.HEESTL offers such learners the opportunity to settheir own goals and study schedules according totheir physical and intellectual capabilities, gainconfidence and self-esteem and develop theknowledge and skills to support themselves andcontribute to society. One HEESTL limb-disabledgraduate who used to be wholly reliant upon oddjobs for a living, borrowed ten yuan to begin study-ing maths, gained a diploma, and subsequentlybecame a technician. Another, who had semi-paral-ysed hands and was barely able to take care of him-self, graduated in English and went on to become atranslator of technical journals. Yet another, whowas able to walk only with the aid of crutches andwas three times rejected for college entry, gradu-ated through HEESTL, completed a master'sdegree and eventually became a college lecturer.

Each year the Foundation of the ChineseDisabled and National Examination Board pre-sents awards to disabled graduates who have dis-tinguished themselves in their studies.

The management and operation ofHEESTL

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HEESTL involves state and provincial govern-ments, nominated universities and colleges andlocal organisations, and works in accord with reg-ulations and procedures developed through 17years of experience by the peak body, the NationalSteering Committee of the Higher EducationExaminations for Self-taught Learners. This com-mittee is chaired by the Minister of Educationand includes representatives of the Ministriesof Education, Planning, Finance, Labour andPersonnel under the State Council, theDepartments of Organisation and Propagandaunder the Central Committee of the ChineseCommunist Party, the People's Liberation Army,universities and non-government organisations. Ithas established 14 subject committees of academicsfrom the HEIs who are charged with formulatingthe examination syllabuses, compiling or recom-mending the texts and reference books andmonitoring the operation and quality of the pro-grammes in:

• economics and management;• Chinese language and literature;

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• philosophy;• law;• civil engineering;• mechanical engineering;• electrical engineering;• physics;• agriculture;• mathematics;• journalism;• politics;• education; and• English language.

There is also a HEESTL examinations researchcommittee, composed of educational administra-tors, researchers, assessment experts, statisticiansand examination managers who are responsible forimplementing and monitoring national policy onself-taught examinations.

The executive body for HEESTL is the Office ofthe National Higher Education Examinations forSelf-taught Learners, which comes under theMinistry of Education and is based in Beijing. Thisagency has formulated the syllabuses for the 561courses currently on offer and has published 300textbooks on behalf of the subject committees.Twenty-two publishing houses across the countryhave published another 2,000 texts and referencebooks and various HEIs and private organisationshave also developed print and audio-visual mater-ial for HEESTL.

There are HEESTL Committees in all of theprovinces, autonomous regions, prefectures andmunicipalities. These operate under the aegis of theNational Steering Committee but, on a day-to-daybasis, come under the provincial, prefectural, ormunicipal departments of education.

Universities and colleges with high reputationsfor their teaching and research are nominated aschief examiner universities for particular fields.They produce the examination papers, assess thelearners' examination papers and proficiencies inpractical courses, evaluate the graduation thesesand confer the diplomas and degrees. There arenow 315 chief examiner HEIs involved in HEESTL,including such prestigious institutions as Peking(Beijing) University, The People's University,Shanghai Jiaotong University and NanjingUniversity. The overt collaboration of such institu-tions helps to ensure the academic standing andstandards of the programme and its graduates.

HEESTL offices in all of the provincial capitalsand major cities manage the programmes at the

local level and arrange for the twice-yearly exami-nations to be held in temporary examination cen-tres in HEIs, adult learning centres and highschools. Thousands of cadres and part-time per-sonnel work on behalf of HEESTL, managingvenues, logistics and registrations, grading papers,and maintaining and analysing records, all ofwhich operations are increasingly computerised.

The government encourages the idea of com-munity support for HEESTL students and variouspost-secondary institutions and non-governmentorganisations play an important role in helping thestudents to overcome their difficulties and com-plete their courses. A 1995 survey in ZhejiangProvince showed that more than 50 per cent of theHEESTL students had taken advantage of commu-nity institutions, coaching classes, correspondencecourses and evening programmes offered by HEIs.

The fields of study and courses offered throughHEESTL are selected in accordance with the coun-try's economic and social development needs andgraduate forecasts and are generally similar in con-tent and standards to those offered by the regularHEIs. The various subject committees work out theaims, academic levels, core study specifications,study options, practical requirements, credits, textsand reference books for all new programmes anddraw up national standards to guide all supportingplans by communities and individuals. Ministriesand state commissions, provinces, autonomousregions and municipalities may also propose pro-grammes that will enhance the capacities of theiremployees and 30 per cent of the course content canbe customised to local needs. All such programmeproposals are scrutinised by the subject committeesand, if approved, referred to the National SteeringCommittee of Higher Education Examinations forSelf-taught Learners for ratification. There is some-times urgent need for programmes not providedby the HEIs. Two cases in point are a degree-levelIndustrial Engineering programme combiningengineering and management, entrusted toHEESTL by the Ministry of Mechanics andIndustry in 1992, and an AgriculturalPopularization programme for basic level agricul-tural technologists, sought by the Ministry ofAgriculture in response to calls for such trainingfrom the Central Committee and the Third Sessionof the Eighth National People's Congress. Suchprogrammes are developed by drawing in multi-disciplined experts from various institutions andorganisations across the country.

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Most of the PRC's universities and colleges areconcentrated in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and thecities in the more developed provinces. HEI provi-sion is more limited in the north western and southwestern regions inhabited mainly by minoritynationalities. HEESTL compensates for this byarranging for HEIs in the major centres to designand assess the examination papers, provide theteaching and correspondence courses and grantthe diplomas in support of the provincial examina-tion institutions in less developed areas.

A National Foundation for Self-taught Talentshas been established to promote the Chinese tradi-tion of diligence and hard work and encourage cit-izens to study through HEESTL. This Foundationreceives donations from various organisations andindividuals and makes awards to outstanding self-taught learners and those who have provided sig-nificant assistance to self-taught learners. Its fundsare also used to help the less economically devel-oped regions develop projects for the self-taughtlearners.

The achievements of, and theprospects for, HEESTLAfter 17 years operation, HEESTL can claim suc-cess in:• challenging the limits of time, space, resource

constraints and privilege in traditional educa-tion to train a great number of personnel fornational and self development in China;

• achieving open, flexible and economical accessto vocational education;

• offering unlimited enrolments;• moving from a 'quality in' to a 'quality out'

model and allowing entry to any citizens whowish to study, regardless of age, gender, ethnic-ity, marital status, occupation, state of health,disability, and even incarceration;

• not imposing schedules and allowing the stu-dents to determine the amount of time neededfor their studies;

• promoting learning, defining the aims andrewards of hard study, and enabling students tobecome better educated and more valuable andvalued members of society;

• achieving synergy between the state, the HEIs,provincial authorities, public media and com-munity and private providers;

• developing a nationwide delivery and supportsystem without a massive central bureaucracy

or sophisticated, high technology infrastruc-ture;

• not being constrained by any physical capaci-ties;

• exploiting and distributing existing educationalresources;

• requiring a small and reducing national fiscalallocation;

• requiring only a small investment from the indi-vidual;

• having an influence on the nation's ideologyand ethics and educational and cultural attain-ment in the spirit of socialist construction.Cheng, Jin and Gu (1998) suggest that the real

test for HEESTL lies in its acceptance by the mar-ket. It is no longer state policy to assign jobs tohigher education graduates and there is no statecommitment to appointing HEESTL graduates, sothey have to evidence their qualities and achieve-ments to potential employers. Surveys conductedin several provinces suggest that HEESTL is wellaccepted by the communities. The graduates areseen to have taken advantage of open entry, to haveaccepted the challenge of assuming greater respon-sibility for their learning than their full-time,on-campus, RTVU or correspondence course coun-terparts, and to have met the high national stan-dards set by the conventional HEIs. Many HEESTLgraduates have excelled in their studies, have beenhighly rated by their employers and have gone onto play important roles in their chosen fields. LiLanquing, the Chinese Vice-Premier, has suggestedthat HEESTL is an invention with Chinese charac-teristics developed under the socialist educationsystem which may have application in other devel-oping countries (State Education Commission1997b).

The 'sink or swim' or 'survival of the fittest'approach of HEESTL contrasts markedly with themodels of open learning that have prevailed inAsia from the 1970s onwards. These have largelybeen based upon western models of providinginfrastructure, logistics, instructional design, multi-media and tutoring/mentoring to support studentlearning. By contrast, in merely providing an open ifdifficult educational route for upward mobility, andrelying upon self-sufficiency and resourcefulness inthe learners, HEESTL inherits and builds upon along-standing Chinese tradition of self-teaching forknowledge and wisdom (Ren 1998) which wasexemplified in the imperial examination system.

The imperial examination was established in the

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Sui Dynasty (589-618 AD) and continued right upuntil the turn of the 20th century. Designed to avoidnepotism and corruption and embodying theConfucian principle of openness to class mobility,this examination was highly competitive but opento all, including the peasant class. Officials encour-aged potential candidates unable to attend stateinstitutions to study on their own, developing cal-ligraphic and literary skills and immersing them-selves in the writings of Confucius and hisdisciples, commonly known as The Four Books andFive Classics. Like the current HEESTL textbooks,these nine classical works were required readingfor the examination. The examination requiredscholarly interpretation of these works in relationto problems of state which had no standardanswers (Cheng, Jin and Gu 1998). However, theexpansion of commercial printing in the Mingdynasty (1368-1644 AD) gave rise to the productionof many commentaries on The Four Books and FiveClassics, model examination essays and otherexamination aids, to the point that there was seento be a danger of recruiting candidates who onlyexcelled in memorisation (Chow 1996). As withHEESTL, such study could take many years andinvolve repeating examinations - in Chinese folk-lore, the heroic figure is often the poor scholarstudying for ten years or more 'alone at the coldwindow' and eventually gaining public office andmarrying the high-ranking love of his life (Cheng1998). Again as in HEESTL, the mode of learningwas never a central issue. Nor was age - the oldestrecorded graduate in the imperial examination wasninety-eight (Liu 1996).

Developing self-knowledge through a combina-tion of self-study and tracking down the appropri-ate resources, resource persons and responsepersons is a demanding and time-consumingprocess. However, the Chinese pay close heed towhat they can learn from others. They not onlyhave the saying that 'two heads are better than one'but that 'there is always one teacher among anythree persons'. The Chinese learner is typically lessintrinsically motivated than the western learner.The reward for study has always been a move upthe social ladder and the Chinese learner readilyaccepts that s/he has to compete, work hard andaim for what is required, rather than what s/hemay want for her/himself (Cheng 1998). As withthe imperial examinations of old, the prime moti-vation for the vast majority of HEESTL enrolees isthe diploma or degree and entry into a more worth-

while occupation, not learning for its own sake(Bian 1998).

Keegan (1998) suggests that HEESTL is a 'thriv-ing' example of individual-based distance provisionwithout pre-prepared material. HEESTL forces thelearners to decide where, when, for how long, howintensively, in what sequence and in what rhythmthey want to study. In this regard, it follows theapproach advocated by Peters (1998) who suggeststhat open learning should aim to develop indepen-dent, self-reliant, self-teaching and self-regulatinglearners, learners who are capable of planning, initi-ating, controlling, evaluating and assessing theirlearning. He suggests that structured courses andcourseware can be confining and stand in the way ofself-determinism, self-responsibility, initiative, cre-ativity and risk-taking. HEESTL also closely followsthe model proposed in the early years of this centuryby the celebrated Nobel Laureate poet,Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore conceived a system ofhome-based study and examinations outside thegeographical boundaries of the universities, but wasunable to realise his vision because of the recalci-trance of the universities of that time (Mukherjee1997). One of the great achievements of HEESTL hasbeen to gain the commitment and support of theconventional universities and colleges.

However, it is recognised by those who manageHEESTL that there is still a great deal of room forimprovement in the programme, and particularlyin regard to:• ensuring that the curriculum and courses are

appropriate to the vocational and professionalneeds of the country and moves to a marketeconomy;

• reviewing and rationalising the number ofcourses currently on offer (this is currentlyunder way with the aim of reducing the numberof courses from 561 to 224);

• researching the learners' progression and grad-uation rates and the external factors that sup-port and impede these;

• researching the learning skills and approachesneeded for study through HEESTL and the pres-ence or absence of these in the learners;

• improving the instructional design and contem-porary relevance of the content of the textbooksto ensure that they meet the needs of the self-taught learners;• researching and developing the capacities for

community assistance and supervision andsupport for learning within the community

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colleges;• developing appropriate applications of:- the Web to disseminate information, docu-

ments and frequently answered questions(FAQs) files;

- multimedia courseware;- identity card memory technology to prevent

examinees from cheating;• working towards a virtual university/col-

lege or learning support network based uponthe Internet.

On the two latter points, the Chinese govern-ment is investing heavily in building nationwidecomputer networks and computer and Internetprovision is developing rapidly. Nevertheless, theInternet is as yet underdeveloped and restricted tothe already privileged regions, institutions andstudents. According to the 1998 Chinese InternetInformation Center (QIC) survey, the majority ofusers are male and in Beijing, Shanghai and themore economically developed provinces. There isvirtually no Internet provision in the remote andminority nationality regions. It also needs to beborne in mind that the price of a computer is equiv-alent to several months' salary for a Beijingworker. Even so, personal computer sales sur-passed 3.5 million in 1997 and were forecast toreach 5 million in 1998. The CIIC survey .recorded1.2 million networked users out of a population ofmore than 1.2 billion and, in the first eight monthsof 1998, the number of users rose by 70 per cent andis predicted to rise to 9.4 million by 2002. Some uni-versities have set up Web Classrooms on theInternet but only 4 per cent of the 9,415 domainnames under 'en' (China) are currently categorisedas educational institutions (China Computer-world 1998). A China Internet Education Centre(CIEC) was established in 1997, authorised byChina Telecom to monitor market demand anddevelop new technologies, pricing systems andstandards for distance education. The PRC's firstvirtual institution, the Multimedia InformationEducation College of Hunan University, wasestablished in 1997, and the CIEC has entered intoagreements with at least ten other universities toenrol an initial 3,000 students on Internet-basedundergraduate and postgraduate courses(Western Governors University 1998).

In October 1998, the Office of HEESTL organiseda workshop at Guilin City, in the autonomousregion of Guangxhi in south China, to considereducational and technological trends in open and

distance education, the potential of multimediaand the Web for HEESTL and the need for reformand staff development. The findings of this work-shop, which involved distance educators fromAmerica, the UK, Australia and Japan and HEESTLstaff from every part of China, provide the basis forenhancing the educational equality and quality ofthe largest and most open examination system inthe world.

The PRC is undergoing fundamental changes asthe state sector of the economy is dismantled andthe country strives to sustain its economic devel-opment. Adult education has an important role toplay in supporting these developments. New tar-gets, strategies, content and technologies will beneeded if HEESTL is to play its role in helping thePRC to achieve the goals of its Ninth Five-year Planfor Nationwide Educational Development and facemodernisation, the world and the future. •

Colin Latchem, formerly Head of the TeachingLearning Group at Curtin University ofTechnology, Western Australia, was a VisitingProfessor at the National Institute of MultimediaEducation in Japan in 1998, and is now engaged ininternational consultancy. He can be contacted one-mail: clatchem@iinet.net.au

Lu Xinzheng is a Researcher with the Office ofHigher Education Examinations for Self-taughtLearners in Beijing. In 1998-1999, he was a VisitingResearcher with the National Institute ofMultimedia Education in Japan. He can be con-tacted on e-mail: luxz@meea.edu.com

References

Bian, X. (1998) 'Large scale social examinations andchanges of public attitude towards diplomas'.Proceedings of the 22nd Annual InternationalAssociation of Educational AssessmentConference, The Effects and Related Problems ofLarge Scale Testing in Educational Assessment,National Education Examinations Authority ofChina, Beijing, 20-25 September, 1996, Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Pressof China, pp. 37-50.

Cheng, K-M. (1998) 'International collaboration inhigher education: Challenges of the InformationEra', Plenary address at the 12th Association ofAsian Open Universities, Conference, The AsianDistance Learner, 4-6 November, 1998, The OpenUniversity of Hong Kong.

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Cheng, K-M, Jin, X. and Gu, X. (1998) 'Challengingstate planning: Adult higher education inChina', forthcoming in Comparative Education,34(4).

China Computerworld (1998) Chinese InternetInformation Center 1998 statistics report onChina's development of the Internet. ChinaComputerworld, 20 July: Internet/Intranet Gl.

Chow, K-W. (1996) 'Writing for success: printing,examinations and intellectual change in LateMing China', in Rowe, W.T. and Lee, J. (eds.) LateImperial China, Special Issue: Publishing, The PrintCulture and Late Imperial China, 17(1), June,Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press,pp.120-157.

Ding, X. (1998) 'Evaluation of distance teachinguniversities: Chinese perspectives and experi-ences'. Keynote address at The International Openand Distance Education Symposium, April 15-17,Shanghai Television University.

Ge, W. (1998) 'Higher Education Examinations forSelf-taught Learners and education for the hand-icapped'. Proceedings of the 22nd AnnualInternational Association of EducationalAssessment Conference, The Effects and RelatedProblems of Large Scale Testing in EducationalAssessment, National Education ExaminationsAuthority of China, Beijing, 20-25 September,1996, Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching andResearch Press of China, pp. 326-335.

Kang, N. (1998) 'New roles in China's economicdevelopment: The nationwide HEESTL system'.Proceedings of the 22nd Annual InternationalAssociation of Educational AssessmentConference, The Effects and Related Problems ofLarge Scale Testing in Educational Assessment,National Education Examinations Authority ofChina, Beijing, 20-25 September, 1996, Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Pressof China, pp. 344-375.

Keegan, D. (1998) 'The two modes of distance edu-cation', Open Learning, 13(3): 43-47.

Latchem, C, Abdullah, Z. and Ding, X. (1999)'Open and dual-mode universities in East andSouth Asia', Performance Improvement Quarterly,12(2): 3-28, Learning Systems Institute, FloridaState University.

Liu, H.F. (1996) Civil Examinations: EducationPerspectives on Examination, Wuhan: HubeiEducational Publishers.

Lou, Y. (1998) 'Tendencies in the development ofopen and distance education'. Conference

Papers Part III (Surnames H-L) of the AsianAssociation of Open Universities 12th AnnualConference, The Asian Distance Learner,November 4-6, The Open University of HongKong, pp. 285-292.

Mukherjee, N. (1997) 'Lok Siksha Samsad (Councilfor People's Education)', Open Praxis, 2:13 and21.

NEEA (1997) Statistics and Analysis Report ofHEESTL for the Second Half Year of 1997, Beijing:National Education Examinations Authority ofChina.

Niu, J., Wang, C. and Ding, X. (1998) 'The "openentrance" trial programme: Establishing a learn-ing support system at China RTVUs'. ConferencePapers Part III (Surnames M-Z) of the AsianAssociation of Open Universities 12th AnnualConference, The Asian Distance Learner,November 4-6, The Open University of HongKong, pp. 327-336.

Pan, G. (1998) 'A pioneering undertaking ofChinese education: Higher EducationExaminations for Self-taught Learners'.Proceedings of the 22nd Annual InternationalAssociation of Educational AssessmentConference, The Effects and Related Problems ofLarge Scale Testing in Educational Assessment,National Education Examinations Authority ofChina, Beijing, 20-25 September, 1996, Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Pressof China, pp. 369-375.

Peters, O. (1998) 'Will the Asian distance learner bean autonomous learner?' Luncheon address atthe 12th Association of Asian Open UniversitiesConference, The Asian Distance Learner, 4-6November 1998, The Open University of HongKong.

Ren, F. (1998) 'On Higher Education Examinationsfor Self-taught Learners and strategies for theirreform and development'. Proceedings of the22nd Annual International Association ofEducational Assessment Conference, The Effectsand Related Problems of Large Scale Testing inEducational Assessment, National EducationExaminations Authority of China, Beijing, 20-25September, 1996, Beijing: Foreign LanguageTeaching and Research Press of China, pp. 88-94.

State Education Commission (1997a) EducationalDevelopment in China, Beijing: State EducationCommission.

State Education Commission (1997b) Introductionto Self-taught Higher Education Examinations

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Program in China, Beijing: State EducationCommission.

Sun, L.Y. (1997) 'A pilot program of enrolling "freeentrance students" in China's RTVUs and itsquality assurance'. Proceedings of the 11 th AsianAssociation of Open Universities Conference,Quality Assurance in Distance and Open Learning:Volume 1, November 11-14, Kuala Lumpur:Malaysia, pp. 245-250.

Sun, L.Y. and Li, G.B. (eds.) (1997) 2996 EducationStatistics Yearbook of Radio and TelevisionUniversities in China, Beijing: China CentralTelevision University Publishing House.

Western Governors University (1998) Press Release,7/30/98: President Clinton lauds agreementbetween Western Governors University and China,http:www.wgu.edu/wgu/about/release.13.html

Books Received

William Forster, Education behind bars: Internationalcomparisons, NIACE, 1998, ISBN 1 86201 020 X, 160pages, £14.95.

Tony Wrightson, Distance Education in Action: theNorthern Integrated Teacher Education Project inUganda, International Extension College, 1998, ISBN 0903632 5 8, 74 pages, £12.00.

John Doidge, Bob Harwick and Jenny Wilkinson,Developing Support and Allied Staff in HigherEducation, Kogan Page, 1998, 175 pages, £16.99.

Paul R. Trawler, Academics Responding to Change: Newhigher education frameworks and academic cultures,SRHE and Open University Press, 1998, ISBN 0335199348 paperback £19.99, ISBN 0335 199356, hard-back £55.00.

Veronica McGivney, Informal Learning in theCommunity: A trigger for change and development,NIACE, 1999, ISBN 186201 073 0, 99 pages, £13.95.

Griff Foley, Learning in Social Action: A contribution tounderstanding informal education, NIACE, 1999, ISBN186201 067 6,163 pages, £12.95.

Veronica McGivney, Returning Women: Their trainingand employment choices and needs, NIACE, 1999, ISBN1 86201 057 9, 34 pages, £6.00.

Shiela Carlton and Jim Soulsby, Learning to Grow Olderand Bolder: A policy discussion paper on learning in laterlife, NIACE, 104 pages, £13.95.

Elaine Capizzi, Learning that Works: Accrediting theTUC Programme, NIACE, 1999, 58 pages, £7.95.

Jim Crowther, Ian Martin and Mae Shaw, PopularEducation and Social Movements in Scotland Today,NIACE, 1999, 215 pages, £14.95.

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