September is the beginning of a new semester for college students. The freshmen not only begin a new semester but also a new period of life.

　　Introduction

　　Let me begin by saying that the content of this article does not reflect any official comments from the institutions or government regarding the development of Chinese higher education system. I am not an official in charge of Chinese education, but I was a student under this system. Furthermore, I was born in a teacher's family, and grew up under this system. Currently, I am employed in the Chinese higher education system as a teacher in a university. Therefore, I feel I have much experience to share regarding the subject. I have much of my opinions on Chinese higher education and have strong feeling in expressing my opinion.

　　An review of Chinese higher education

　　In December 1977, Chinese government recorded the examination for higher education which marked the Chinese education system reformation from the "Great Cultural Revolution" and ended "the recommended systems for entrance of higher education." As a social consequence, all students were so encouraged to follow this policy that they began to understand that the fortune was no longer left to tender mercy of officials at various levels, but depended on the efforts of themselves, and students began to make much effort in an all-time concentration of learning. We should be aware that was a great achievement in the development of Chinese higher education and it was a positive movement to expedite the science and technology in China. This also is fundamental for the current Chinese higher education.

　　Current Chinese higher education

　　Now, Chinese higher education systems, which were established since the reform in 1977, have been carried out, and have been developed for more than 20 years. When we review and meditate up on this system, we can find out some negative phenomenon. Under this system, there were so many compulsory subjects that they forced all students to develop at the same pace. Therefore, it was impossible to groom the student individually, which is indispensable while training higher level talent. At the beginning of 1990s, Chinese higher education gradually introduced the credit system, in which, students can select some subjects upon their own interest.

　　However, the following questions remain in the current Chinese higher education:

　　Problem 1: The specialization is so detailed that the student can not acquire adequate background knowledge beyond their specialization field.

　　Take the accounting as an example. In China higher education, most of universities eager for quick success and instant benefit, focuses on the so-called hot specialization and demotes the background and universal knowledge. Therefore, there are specializations of commerce accounting, manufacture accounting, banking accounting, construction accounting, tour accounting, hotel accounting, and so on. We can not imagine how to teach students in just one specialization for four years.

　　I advocate that students become versatile and erudite, especially in the today's market economical environment, in which, everyone's job is precarious, even more each job needs the versatile talents.

　　Problem 2: So many subjects were designed from the view of current circumstances rather than considered useful for the future. In Chinese higher education institutions, there are many tedious subjects that required students to learn and the student are so reluctant to learn that they only cram.

　　Take my experience as an example. When I was in a primary school, I began to cram Chairman Mao's quotations. When I was in middle school, I was forced to criticize Lin Bial (the second highest leader in China during 1966-1971) and the Confucianism. even when I was in university I still was involved in criticizing of "the Gang of four" (that mean Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, Jiang Qing and Yao Wenyean, all of them were the leaders of the party and country in china before 1976) and learned the Marx's work "On the capital," and Lenin and Starling's works which are a compulsory course for higher education students who major in economics.

　　Problem 3: There is so much trash in the textbook of some specialization subjects, especially in accounting. As an accounting teacher in Wuyi University, first, I should show you one of such trash in Chinese accounting textbooks. In the textbook of accounting principal, which is for the university student, it says:

　　"When you record the books you should use a blue of black pen, and the records must be in thesgroupsof date, one by one, and line by line to record all transaction, and the number figures you write should occupy the two-third of a box and transaction, and the number figures you write should occupy the two-third of a box and should be in italic.......The description of each transaction should be written in standard Chinese characters, moreover would be in a simplest and clear way. You should record it in earnest. Nonetheless do not ignore recording any on transaction and do not record any one transaction twice, and after recording you should make an asterisk on the voucher and then...."

　　(Accounting principle, Designated textbook for Xiamen university, edited by Ge Jiashu, general editor, page 108-112, and 118-120. Liaoning People's Publish House 1996 edition)

　　How tedious and how verbose it is! Should such tedious sentence appear in the textbook for university students? How can I honesty teach my students from such a textbook? I always complain that I am not teaching primary pupils, I am teaching college students.

　　I think such a textbook is aimed at perplexing students rather than helping students understand accounting principal, and the authors of such textbooks always explicate via verbose style rather than simple and clear sentences. The purpose of such author is to make the student worship the author rather than to introduce knowledge or the author want to earn more money from writing the verbose textbooks. It's ironic that most of the textbooks are written by some well-known professors.

　　Problem 4: In Chinese higher education, teachers always introduce the obsolete knowledge to their students.

　　What should we teach our students? Every teacher must be faced with this question. In the Chinese traditional view, teachers always are regarded as persons who can introduce the ancestor's experience. However, in the contemporary world, this view is faced with a challenge. Now, it is more important that a teacher can introduce the development and future of technology and science compared with introducing the ancestor's experience.

　　Also let me take Chinese accounting education in the university as an example. In Chinese accounting education, teachers always spend much time in introducing how to record transactionssintosthe books and somewhat books would be record. Furthermore how to transfer one transaction recording from one booksintosanother and so, I believe such knowledge is so obsolescent that it has gradually been dispensed by computer. Why don't our teachers focus on how to combine accounting with the computer, and how to develop accounting software for the computer? It is current practice. Our teacher need learn the knowledge first.

　　Problem 5: So many examinations have characteristics of lottery.

　　When the Test of English as a foreign Language (TOEFL) was introducedsintosChina, most the subjects in Chinese high education, gradually adopted the TOEFL examination style that contained only three or four question styles, such as: 1) Multiple choice question, 2) Filling in blanks, 3) False and truth, 4) Answer in main point, More over now in China, most teachers regard the question style of TOEFL as a standard of examination and if any examination style is not like it, the style would be regard as a violation of some rules.

　　I argued that, in the style of TOEFL questions, every one question can only test student's knowledge from one point only, not test from a view in an entire area, and it also lacks of the connection between the different knowledge points, It somewhat like painting, The TOEFL style questions only can concentrate on how to paint an eye of a nose, it can not think about the relation between the eyes and nose. In most subjects it is necessary to guide students to think about the linkage of knowledge points.

　　As a consequence, students in Chinese higher education must spend much time and efforts to cram such trashes only for the diploma and the academic degree, which is only issued from the Chinese higher education. A Student complained: "We had to cram what maybe not useful in my all life but only for diploma." (From a student's letter. "Beijing evening post" 3 April 1998).

　　On one hand, most students are only concerned with the contents within the cover of examination. Passing the lottery examination is the only purpose of their study and learning. We call this a test-oriented learning method. Therefore, there are so many students who make tricks in such lottery examinations regardless of discipline. Under this method, the student's background knowledge is so narrow that they can not be convenient or competent in the practice.

　　On the other hand, most subjects are still taught in the traditional Chinese way—the teacher does all the talking and writing on the blackboard and the students write down what the teacher says and copy from the blackboard. Furthermore, teachers always teach what the textbook says, and then give the students the test context that contains the test question, so the student can only cram up the context to get high marks in the lottery examinations.

　　Of course, we should be aware that the Chinese higher education has its strong points, such as strict management system of students eligibility, students are more disciplinarian and respect their teachers and the teacher love their students, and so on. However, insgroupsto focus the discussion in this article, I would not present details of such strong points.

　　It is a hope of many families: sending their son or daughter to university. But the recent increases in tuition have made it very difficult for some families. A recent National Statistics Bureau report showed fees rising faster than incomes. From 1997 to 2000, undergraduate tuition went from 2,300 yuan on average to 5,000 yuan. While the average income of urbanites in 2001 stayed around 6,860 yuan per capita, for farmers it was 2,366 yuan.

　　This year, tuition at most schools will not go up too much because universities are following the 2000 guidelines (around 5,000 yuan a year) at the request of the government.

　　According to a poll the National Statistics Bureau took last November, more than 70 per cent of parents think 5,000 yuan is too much and could possibly put many of them in debt.

　　About 60 per cent of China's college students come from rural areas, China Education Daily has reported. Li Wenli, of Peking University's Higher Education Institute, has said that a three-member rural family has to spend 70 per cent of its income to cover tuition.

　　In the nearly four decades after 1952, most Chinese college students got their higher education for free because of government subsidies.

　　The big change came in the early 1990s when the central government set policies on tuitions, but each college and university could set fees as long as they were in line with the policy.

　　Insgroupsto help the students from poor families, the State started a loan project in 1999. but it is only cup of water for a blazing cartload of faggots.

　　Government spending on education in China for 2001 accounted for 2.55 per cent of GNP. That compares with an average of 2.5 per cent for under-developed countries and 4.1 per cent for developing countries.