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Education

Shift aims of China's poorer universities

Nature volume 505, page 291 (2014)Cite this article

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China's universities and research institutes are experiencing the 'Matthew effect', whereby powerful institutions become stronger and weaker ones become even weaker. It is in the country's long-term interest to rectify this by shifting the educational focus of less-prestigious universities to help domestic job seekers.

Chinese academic institutions are clamping down on the recruitment of research staff as the market becomes saturated with domestic PhD graduates. The top-tier universities (known as '985 Project' institutions; see H. Zhang et al. Res. Policy 42, 765–775; 2013) set the most stringent entry requirements, demanding high qualifications from leading and overseas institutions.

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  1. Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China

    Yanhong Tang & Xin Miao

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  1. Yanhong Tang
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  2. Xin Miao
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Correspondence to Xin Miao.

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Tang, Y., Miao, X. Shift aims of China's poorer universities. Nature 505, 291 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/505291b

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