THE market, the magic word of the new order, is to dictate how schools are run and what students are taught in China's bold plan to revamp its education system.
And gone are the days when university students only had to pay token school fees with the rest underwritten by the state, according to newly-elected Minister of Education, Mr Zhu Kaixuan.
Mr Zhu said yesterday new courses on economy and management would be introduced to groom talented personnel for the socialist market economy.
Education has been seen as a social service in the past with the Government footing the bulk of the costs, he said.
Mr Zhu, who replaces Mr Li Tieying as education chief, said: ''This has to be changed. A competitive mechanism will be introduced.'' He said the portion of self-financed university students would be increased from the present level of about 20 per cent.
Government-sponsored students had been paying about 350 yuan (HK$471) school fees annually, compared with 2,000 yuan for those self-financed.
The state had to subsidise at least 7,000 yuan for each student every year.
