Chinese Oceanographic Research

Abstract

Abstract : Since the economic boom that started in the early 1990s, China has expanded its educational and scientific programs. Funds have increased rapidly for education and scientific research. From 1993 to 2006, enrollment of full-time students in universities and colleges increased from 924,000 to 5,400,000; the total number of students (including part-time) increased from 5,000,000 to 25,000,000; and the percentage of the enrolled full-time students in the 18-22 age group jumped from 5% to 22% (Table 1). In the same time period, research funds for ocean sciences from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) increased from 12.33 million Chinese yuan (CNY) supporting 58 projects to 40.05 million CNY supporting 141 projects. Similarly, NSFC funds for the geosciences increased from 105.31 to 351.38 CNY and the number of projects more than doubled (Figs. 1 and 2). Universities, research institutes, and laboratories have been expanded or reorganized. Small colleges have been combined and upgraded into big universities. Along with these changes, the oceanographic community has been growing rapidly and new Chinese-language journals have been created.