Science and Technology in The People's Republic of China - Education and R&D Personnel

Education and R&D Personnel

Programme for International Student Assessment
2009 results for the top 10 nations

Rank	Maths		Sciences		Reading
1.	Shanghai, China	600	Shanghai, China	575	Shanghai, China	556
2.	Singapore	562	Finland	554	South Korea	539
3.	Hong Kong, China	555	Hong Kong, China	549	Finland	536
4.	South Korea	546	Singapore	542	Hong Kong, China	533
5.	Taiwan	543	Japan	539	Singapore	526
6.	Finland	541	South Korea	538	Canada	524
7.	Liechtenstein	536	New Zealand	532	New Zealand	521
8.	Switzerland	534	Canada	529	Japan	520
9.	Japan	529	Estonia	528	Australia	515
10.	Canada	527	Australia	527	Netherlands	508

See also: Education in the People's Republic of China, Higher education in China, Project 985, and Project 211

In the first participation of Chinese student in an international student assessment test, the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment, 15-years-old students from Shanghai ranked first in all of the three categories: mathematics, science, and reading. The Chinese students scored particularly well compared to other nations in mathematics. One explanation for the Chinese results may be a culture emphasizing education and competitive examinations and more time spent studying in part due to less participation in activities such as sports. Teaching have become a higher status occupation. Also, industrialized Shanghai which has done important educational reforms may not be representative for the rest of China. While there was no evidence of cheating or technical problems with the testing, Shanghai which attracts many immigrants from the rest of China may have allowed particularly good students to study in the city and the students may have been told that the test was important for China's image. The OECD director of the testing, Andreas Schleicher, said that the results were expected to produce astonishment and had been examined for accuracy by international experts after the OECD received the Shanghai scores. He also said that the results "refute the commonly held hypothesis that China just produces rote learning" and "Large fractions of these students demonstrate their ability to extrapolate from what they know and apply their knowledge very creatively in novel situations".

China has become of the world's biggest sources for research and development personnel. Between 2000 and 2008, the number of engineers and scientists more than doubled to 1.59 million. Relative to population size this is still low compared to major developed nations like the United States and Japan but the gap is rapidly closing. The number of doctorate awards in science and engineering have increased tenfold since the early 1990s. The number of students in general at universities increased from 1 million to 5.4 million during the 1998-2007 period. In 2009 alone, China produced over 10,000 Ph.D. engineering graduates, and as many as 500,000 BSc graduates in engineering, mathematics, information technology, and computer science – more than any other country.

The C9 League, pitched as China's Ivy League, is an alliance of nine elite Chinese universities which receive a high amount of national research funding and produce a large share of national research output.

Chinese universities contribute an unusually large share of patents. The universities receive about half of R&D money from private enterprises.

Eight out of nine members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China have engineering degrees.

2.25 million students have studied abroad since 1978. 340,000 were studying abroad in 2011 which was an increase by 20% over the previous year. In total 818,400 have returned to China with this occurring in particular in recent years. 186,200 returned to China in 2011 which was an increase by 38% over the previous year. China offers several benefits for high-achieving foreign educated Chinese who return to China. Students are now also returning because increased job opportunities unlike previously when many stayed abroad due lack of jobs in China. A 2009 study found that only 10% of Chinese students plan to stay in the United States due to visa restrictions, fear of lack of job opportunities, and belief that US growth will lag behind average world growth rates. 52% believed that the best job opportunities were in China which was in marked contrast with earlier surveys. 74% felt that the best days of China's economy was coming. 68% intended to start businesses. When they return, foreign educated students often provide crucial science and technology knowledge, management skills, and innovation abilities for scientific research and industry. The senior management in high-tech companies are often foreign educated.