China focuses on higher education

a news release from the Centre for International Governance Innovation

A major transformation of higher education in China has the potential to impact the global economy and global education structure. CIGI's newest policy brief, Higher Educational Transformation in China and its Global Implications, presents an overview of Chinese policies in the education sector and finds that the most recent transformation is focused on major commitments to tertiary education. This strategy differs from those of other low-wage economies, which invest heavily in primary and secondary education, and has implications for global trade in both ideas and idea-derived products.

The authors point to recent statistics showing the number of undergraduate and graduate students in China has increased by about 30 per cent per year since 1999. Earlier studies estimate that by 2010 there will be substantially more PhD engineers and scientists in China than in the United States and within two years 90 per cent of all PhD physical scientists and engineers in the world will be Asians living in Asia, most of whom will be Chinese.

This outcome, the authors believe, is a result of a number of factors, including improved access to higher education for rural households, promotion of elite universities and consolidation of other universities to reduce their numbers. The focus of the policy is to elevate a small number of Chinese universities to world-class status. These institutions have been put under extraordinary pressure to upgrade their international rankings, measured by publications in international journals, citations and international cooperation.

"Potential implications for the global education system and global economy are major," says CIGI Distinguished Fellow John Whalley. "If China succeeds by maintaining high growth or initiating new growth by using educational transformation, other countries may follow with higher educational competition between countries as a possible outcome."

Chinese education transformation is a result of strategy driven by decisions made at the high policy levels in China and not by analysis of the demand side of labour markets. In China's case, these latest efforts seem to be motivated by a desire to maintain high growth by using educational transformation as the primary mechanism for skill upgrading and raising total productivity. This unique development strategy started in the late 1990s and is still in its early stages. However, the authors suggest that Chinese education policy will form a central element in China's integration into the international economy.

The policy brief was authored by Yao Li, PhD candidate in the department of economics at the University of Western Ontario; John Whalley, CIGI distinguished fellow and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; Shunming Zhang, professor of economics and finance at Xiamen University in China; and Xiliang Zhao, assistant professor in the department of economics as well as the Wang Yanan Institute for Economic Studies at Xiamen University in China.

The Centre for International Governance Innovation, with headquarters in Waterloo, is an independent, nonpartisan think tank that addresses international governance challenges. Led by a group of experienced practitioners and distinguished academics, CIGI supports research, forms networks, advances policy debate, builds capacity, and generates ideas for multilateral governance improvements. Conducting an active agenda of research, events and publications, CIGI's interdisciplinary work includes collaboration with policy, business and academic communities around the world.

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July was wettest month in 17 years

from a bulletin by Frank Seglenieks, UW Weather Station coordinator

We had two very significant rainfall events during the month. The first occurred on the morning of July 11 between 3 and 9 am when 78.0 mm of rain fell. This was the highest one-day total precipitation in the 10-year history of the weather station and you have to go back to July 7, 1991 to find a higher daily total (82.0 mm).

According to Ministry of Transportation standards this is the kind of six-hour storm that is likely to occur only once every 25 years. (Find more information about this storm on the Weather Station's blog.)

The second significant rainfall event came during the evening of July 22 between 7:30 and 7:45 pm when we got 23.0 mm of rain. Again this was the highest 15-minute total in UW weather station history . . . Using MTO standards it would be classified as a 1-in-10-years storm, hence not quite as significant as the July 11th storm.

Hardly surprising then that the overall precipitation for the month was the most we have seen at the station for any month (181.0 mm). We have to go back to July 1991 at the Waterloo-Wellington airport station to find a month that had more (182.6 mm).

An intense storm on the 30th put the month into fifth place for the highest July precipitation total since records began in the region in 1915 (number one is 1988 when there was 223.2 mm). . . . We have had 667.5 mm of precipitation so far in 2008; the average for this time of year is 506.0 mm. Last year at this time we only had 354.5 mm, thus this year we have had almost twice as much precipitation as 2007.

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Of food, athletic glory, and frosh anxieties

Through a lens of food

"Edible Histories, Cultural Politics: Towards a Canadian Food History" is the intriguing title of a two-day workshop that's on today and tomorrow at Conrad Grebel. The workshop's invited participants, says a notice from Marlene Epp in Grebel, "will produce a scholarly volume that will map a terrain for a Canadian food history by demonstrating a Canadian engagement with international and multi-disciplinary literatures and by providing empirical studies that show how viewing the past through the lens of food and its attendant practices can shed new light on the Canadian past and its diverse peoples."

The workshop is sponsored by the Canada Research Chair in Gender and the History of Medicine held by history professor Wendy Mitchinson (left), the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada, and Conrad Grebel University College.

Although the workshop is not open, three public lectures will be held in Conrad Grebel's Great Hall in connection with the event. Jeffrey Pilcher, University of Minnesota, will speak on “The Future of Food Studies,” Wednesday at 4 p.m. Daniel E. Bender, University of Toronto, speaks on “Teaching Global Food History,” Thursday at 9 a.m., followed by Donna Gabaccia, University of Minnesota, speaking on “Cookbooks in the Archive.” For more information email mgepp@uwaterloo.ca. For directions on how to get there from off campus, see Grebel's website.

Bound for athletic glory

At the Beijing Olympics, which start on Friday, the one participating athlete with a connection to UW is Keith Beavers (right), a swimmer. Beavers is a master's student in kinesiology (he's working on a degree in cardiovascular physiology) though not a Warrior — he's based at the Region of Waterloo Swim Club. He'll be competing in the 200-metre backstroke and the 200-and 400-metre individual medleys. Beavers was an undergrad when he competed at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where he came 12th in the 200-metre backstroke. Last year he won a bronze at the Pan American Games. There's more coverage on his blog and in the Waterloo Region Record online. Two other candidates have been eliminated: Dana Ellis (BSc ’02), a pole vaulter who holds the Canadian women's record, was kept out by an injured Achilles tendon; Hugh MacDonald (BMath ’97), an archer, was narrowly edged out at the trials in June.

This note from Chris Gilbert in athletics: Second-year Warrior Garrett Rank, an arts and business student, won the Sudbury Idylwylde invitational match-play golf tournament on July 27. Rank, an Elmira resident, birdied the final hole and defeated Vince Palladino — a five-time champion of the event — to capture the title. The Idylwylde is the longest-running match-play tournament in Canada. Rank was the runner up of the tournament in 2007.

Sharon Kimberly, a field co-ordinator with Co-operative Education & Career Services, is a member of the Outer Harbour Dragon Boat Club senior women's team, based in Toronto. Last week she and her teammates won gold and two bronzes in the Club Crew World Championships held in Penang, Malaysia. The team won gold in the two-kilometre race on Thursday, July 31.

Single, sexy, and frosh

Single & Sexy, UW's long-running frosh survival guide, returns this fall with its "20th edition." The premiere will be staged on August 28 in the Humanities Theatre at 1 p.m., with a special invitation to UW staff and faculty, as well as family, friends, and members of the community. RSVP by August 15 to Sandra Gibson, Heath Services: sc2gibso@uwaterloo.ca. This year a promotional video can be viewed online. There is also an audio clip: go here, and scroll to the bottom.

CPA staff

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