Majors First, Status Second 　

When some universities in China are aiming to join the world's top list, maybe they should first consider building top level majors first.


Beijing Youth Daily quotes professor Chen Xian from Shanghai Jiao Tong University as saying that the goal of becoming one of the best is good, but universities are advised to take firm steps towards it rather than rushing to obtain the name of a world class university.


Chen said actually the driving force of universities are their outstanding majors, contributing the most to their competitiveness in teaching and research. Currently Chinese universities have little presence in the world's top major list, leaving a huge gap between China and the developed countries in this regard.


The professor added that the misunderstanding was that universities were increasing their scales by opening up more majors, most of which were not relevant to their key strength. For example, universities specialized in humanities studies offered majors in science, engineering or even medicine, losing its competitiveness.


The loss, as the professor pointed out, was the main obstacle on the way to offering world-class education. The professor therefore suggested that educators be more innovative and independent, build sound majors first before stepping up their efforts to become top universities on a global scale.