The role of new media in the knowledge explosion

Abstract

The terrible events of June in Tiananmen SquareI cannot mention them without feeling deep anger towards those who suppressed the student movement-should not blind us to the remarkable achievement of the Chinese television universities over the last decade. Since 1982, I have been able to observe them personally, as Chairman of the International Advisory Panel for the Television Universities and Polytechnics Project. This .project, funded jointly by the Chinese and the World Bank to the tune of about a quarter of a billion dollars, was aimed chiefly at modernising the 29 television universities’ buildings and equipment, and at training their staff. During the Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1976, there were no graduates from the Chinese universities. This was a disaster for the nation. To regain lost ground, the television universties started up in 1979 in all 28 provinces except Tibet. The Central Radio and Television University in Beijing began producing large numbers of recorded programmes. Today, broadcasts go out over a terrestrial channel and by satellite six hours a day, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., six days a week, and there is a large stock of programmes on videocassettes circulating in each province. Most students watch the broadcasts in classes at their places of work, under the eye of tutors drawn from the same factory or office. Some attend similar classes at study centres under the supervision of local bureaus of higher education. Textbooks, similar to those used in the universities, are equally important as a teaching medium. Laboratory work is arranged in schools and colleges. Unlike students of the Open University, the television universities’ students are usually selected by their employers and must have obtained a certain mark in the examinations at the end of secondary school. To obtain a degree, at somewhat below the standard set by the OU, these students are released on basic pay for three years. Others take a few selected courses, without going as far as the degree. The curriculum, at first narrowly vocational and technical, is fairly broad but still looks very utilitarian. In recent years, as well as those who attend classes, many unregistered studentscalled free viewershave sat and passed the examinations. During their short lives to date, these innovative institutions have had strong backing from the Chinese State Education Commission, and provincial education commissions have followed suit. But are the television universities successful, and, in particular, has the five-year World Bank project been a success? The final results are not yet in: the project evaluation has been suspended following suppression of the student movement. On the positive side, the Bank loan prompted the provinces and municipalities to make additional investments in buildings and equipment. Most provinces exceeded their original targets. Before the loan money arrived in 1984, the television universities had already turned out the first batches of graduates, following a remarkably fast start-up which unfortunately almost overwhelmed their administrators. The