Restoring the lustre to star of higher learning
An Oxford-educated biologist who helped to decode the virus that causes Sars and a document by China's cabinet have jump-started the revitalisation of a historic institution with a reputation as an incubator of China's premiers.
The giant statue of Zhou Enlai , communist China's first prime minister and chairman Mao Zedong's right-hand man, on the campus of Tianjin's Nankai University is a reminder of its glorious past. Premier Wen Jiabao , who attended the university's affiliate high school, would also consider himself a 'Nankai boy'.
Founded in 1919 by two educators, Nankai has survived Japanese bombings, the civil war and the Cultural Revolution. It now finds itself under pressure to 'reshape, reform and revitalise' in order to stay ahead in an educational environment where major universities are caught up in a rat race for funds and top students and professors.
Rao Zihe , Nankai's new president, believes the university now faces 'a historic opportunity' to make the former 'North Star of Higher Learning' shine once more.
Nankai's fortunes were tied with those of Tianjin, which was now on track to become China's next economic hub, Dr Rao said.
The Binhai New Area (BNA), the city's decade-old industrial park, has been hailed as the country's third growth engine after the central government decided to give it full support last year. A document issued by the State Council on May 26 formally designated the BNA as an 'experimental zone for comprehensive reform', a status shared only with Shenzhen and Shanghai's Pudong New Area.
Dr Rao, one of the world's leading researchers on coronaviruses such as the one that causes Sars, says Nankai is to BNA what Stanford is to Silicon Valley. 'Nankai's development goes hand in hand with that of BNA. We're in the same boat. There won't be and can't be a top-notch Nankai without a top-notch BNA. And vice versa,' he said. Nankai is exploiting the opportunity to the full. Two of its most competitive laboratories - biotechnology and applied physics - are positioned in the economic zone as a support research platform.
Dr Rao, who discovered the structure of a coronavirus protein - a step that could aid the development of Sars drugs - heads a bio-pharmacy research institute in the BNA that aims to become a leading research and development centre for both innovative and generic drugs.
To help enhance Nankai's reputation, Dr Rao took the radical step in October last year of deciding to recruit from abroad 14 deans for Nankai's 21 colleges.
It was the first time a major mainland university had embarked on an open talent hunt of such scale. Eyebrows were raised and doubts voiced in a country where scholars are expected to rise through the ranks.
'Many were actually worried or even horrified by the prospect of not being able to fill all 14 chairs,' Dr Rao said. He himself returned to China in 1996 after seven years doing post-doctoral research at Oxford.
Nankai's experiment proved a success. More than 70 external applications were lodged. Competition at some colleges, such as Life Sciences, became so intense that nine top candidates were shortlisted. A Chinese associate professor at Yale University was the eventual winner.
The university appointed the first foreign dean in its 88-year history. A German scientist from the University of Vienna, Romano Rupp, now chairs the College of Applied Physics.
In order to offer compensation packages comparable with those at US or European universities, Dr Rao went out of his way to ask for financial help from the city's party chief.
'Super scholars are the real soul of a university,' he said.
