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Chinese publication of the GUNI Report
After many months of hard work, the Chinese version of the first GUNI report, The Financing of Universities, has finally been published. Yang Wei, the GUNI Asia-Pacific Network president, stated that this publication will have a major impact on the Chinese higher education system, as there are more than 2,000 universities in China and the topic of financing is one of the most important for the current Chinese higher education system.
The international scope of the report Higher Education in the World has increased considerably in the last few days. Zhejiang University Press (http://www.zjupress.com) recently published the Chinese version of the first GUNI report, The Financing of Universities. Thus, the Report is now available to the huge community of Chinese speakers. Chinese is the most spoken language in the world: it is the native language of over 900 million people. Almost 200 million people have learnt it as a second language, and this number is rising.A total of 2500 Chinese copies have been printed in its first edition. Many of these will be distributed to universities and held in their libraries. The Report will also be available for purchase from the publisher’s website. In the next few weeks, the table of contents and a sample chapter will become available on the GUNI website (http://www.guni-rmies.net).
Professor Yang Wei, GUNI Asia-Pacific Network (http://www.guni-ap.org/index.asp) president and president of Zhejiang University (http://www.zju.edu.cn), presented this publication at the recent GUNI Academic Seminar. According to him, the Report may become an outstanding reference work in Asia, as it has been compiled by "the leading scholars in the world" and combines theoretical approaches with practical experiences. The translated version will have an impact not only in China but also in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, where the Chinese language is widely spoken. Hence, it will also foster and extend knowledge of the Network and increase its visibility in Asia.
Professor Yang believes that the most important result of this translation is that it will give the Chinese access to a valuable document that is widely representative of all the regions in the world. Thus, Chinese universities will be able to observe and compare their situations with those of other regions with different economic, social and cultural backgrounds. In Professor Yang’s words, this is particularly interesting since there are more than 2000 universities and an extremely wide variety of situations in China: "In China we simply cope with more different situations."
This wide variability of situations and the comparative value of the Report is an incentive for publishing a Chinese translation of the second GUNI report, which is due to be published in a year’s time. Its publication will also be a significant event for Chinese universities because, as Professor Yang stated, the issues of quality and accreditation are becoming increasingly important in China. The second report will enable Chinese universities to make in-depth comparisons with other regions. Zhejiang University is currently involved in an accreditation process. Learning from other situations in the world will improve the way China deals with accreditation.
The publication of the Chinese version of the Report brings GUNI closer to its goal of reaching people worldwide. The Report is initially published in Spanish and English. The Chinese version is the first translation in print, thanks to the collaboration of Palgrave-MacMillan (http://www.palgrave.com) and the crucial efforts of Zhejiang University and the GUNI Asia-Pacific Network.
The GUNI Secretariat continues to seek collaborations to help publish complete or reduced versions of the Report in other languages. Portuguese, Arabic and Catalan versions of the Report are currently being discussed or are even in the translation process.
More information on the Chinese version of the report through the following links:
Sample chapter “Quality Assurance and the Role of Accreditation: An Overview”
Thursday, July 26, 2007
