Frank Hsieh Visits the Mainland
Yeah right, the guy who emphatically said he isn’t Chinese on a trip to Japan, want to build bridges?! Think more about jostling for position within the DPP. On the other hand, if he’s able to make a positive impact on cross-Strait relations, then all the power to him. http://www.voanews.com/content/taiwanese-pro-independence-politician-visits-china/1520148.html
Canada and China’s Education in the World
There has been a slew of reports on international education and university rankings over the past few weeks. Taken together, they provide for an interesting picture of the state of general and university education in Canada along with strides made by China’s post-secondary education.
The OECD’s Education at a Glance 2012, its annual review of educational systems around the world, gave Canada top marks for the highest percentage of its population with a college or university education at 51%, up from 36% just 15 years ago. Canada is the only country in the world that surpassed the 50% mark. The next nine most educated countries were Israel (46%), Japan (45%), US (42%), New Zealand (41%), South Korea (40%), UK (38%) tied with Finland and Australia, and Ireland (37%).
Canada achieved this with less spending on education as a portion of GDP (6.1%) than the OECD average (6.3%). Yet, while Canada is on top overall, it ranks third in post-secondary education of young adults between the ages of 25 and 34, indicating that other countries are catching up fast.
In terms of primary and high school education, perhaps counter-intuitively, Canadian children aged 7 to 14 spent far more time in class (7,363 hours) than their OECD counterparts (6,621 hours). In contrast to the US, Canadian educators have made major headway in reducing the number of students dropping out of high school, cutting rates by 1/2 to 1 in 10 from 15 years ago. However, in the wake of the global financial crisis, there has been a slight rise in youth unemployment and youths not taking classes or training (13.5% in 2010) which still fairs better than the US (16.1%) or the UK (15.9%).
Canada remains a favoured destination for international college and university students, witnessing a doubling of numbers within a decade. By far, students from China made up the largest group, accounting for nearly 1/4 of the total international student population, followed by the US (7.4%), 6.1% from France, and 4.8% from India. By contrast, China had more than 292,000 foreign students in 2011 and plans to nearly double that within a few years.
A couple influential UK-based world university rankings are of interest, too. Without going into the ups and downs and differing methodologies leading to considerably divergent outcomes, the performance of Canadian universities in the top 200 was mixed while Greater China universities made notable advances. QS placed far more mainland Chinese universities in its top 200 than THE list and Peking U. overtook U. of Tokyo for the first time, whereas on THE ranking, it is 19 spots behind the top Japanese institution. U. of T. dropped two spots in THE with McGill slipping even further. But, significantly, apart from the 6 top Canadian institutions that made both lists, Western Ontario, Queens and Waterloo made the QS while Ottawa and Victoria made it into THE top 200.
QS World University Ranking Times THE World University ranking
Top Canadian universities
McGill U. (#18) U. of Toronto (#21)
U. of Toronto (#19) UBC (#30)
UBC (#45) McGill U. (#34)
U. of Alberta (#108) Universite de Montreal (#84)
Universite de Montreal (#114) McMaster U. (#88)
McMaster U. (#152) U. of Alberta (#121)
U. of Western Ontario (#173) U. of Ottawa (#171)
Queen’s U. (#175) U. of Victoria (#196)
U. of Waterloo (#191)
Top Greater China universities
U. of Hong Kong (#23) U. of Hong Kong (tied for #35)
Hong Kong U. of Science and Technology (#33) Peking U. (#46)
Chinese U. of Hong Kong (#40) Tsinghua U. (#52)
Peking U. (#44) Hong Kong U. of Science and Technology (#65)
Tsinghua U. (#48) Chinese U. of Hong Kong (#124)
National Taiwan U. (#80) National Taiwan U. (#134)
Fudan U. (#90) City U. of Hong Kong (#182)
Shanghai Jiaotong U. (#125)
Hong Kong Polytechnic U. ($159)
Nanjing U. (#168)
Zhejiang U. (#170)
U. of Science and Technology of China (#186)
National Tsinghua U. (Taiwan) (#192)
Commentaries accompanying the two UK rankings shared some analysis on Canadian and Chinese mainland universities: The slide of Canadian universities has something to do with the Canadian higher educational system that spreads core funding relatively evenly and equitably, based primarily on student enrolment, as opposed to the European and Asian strategy of supporting elite institutions, said Phil Baty, editor for THE ranking.
Since the start of the 2000s, the Chinese Ministry of Education has been funneling a lot of university research funding (supporting output and attracting researchers from home and abroad, mainly returning ‘turtles’ – Chinese (holding or not foreign citizenship) with foreign PhDs and extensive research experience) to the elite ‘C9’ schools, China’s ‘Ivy League’, almost all of which rose in the QS 2012 general and Asian rankings. According to Eurostat and the OECD, in 2010, funding in China reached US$12 billion, surpassing the UK, and is rising by 15% per year. But, in spite of impressive growth, China’s per student spending in higher education lags far behind the West. In the US, universities spend on average $30,000 per student, 6.67 times that in China ($4,500).
Despite their numbers on the QS top 200, Chinese universities have a long ways to go in the area of quality of research before they can join the super-elite of world top 20 schools. Citing Peking U. as an example, QS says although its faculty/student ratio is impressive and professors are more productive writing research papers than all Asian universities save Seoul National U., it is lackluster citation ratios that hold it back. On QS’s 2012 Asian ranking, Fudan U. scored the highest with a score of 88.6, Peking U. next with 84.7, and Tsinghua 51.7, placing them 43rd, 53rd, and 136th respectively in the world.
Ontario Premier on Mission to China, Announced on Twitter, Facebook and Weibo
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced his fourth trade mission to China on Wednesday, posting a video on social media sites before issuing a traditional news release.
McGuinty took to Twitter and Facebook, and China’s Weibo network, to announce he would lead a delegation of government officials and business leaders to China, Ontario’s second-largest trading partner, with $29 billion in two-way trade in 2011.
“This trade mission is all about working together to seize opportunities to grow our economy and create more jobs,” McGuinty tells viewers.
“Each visit makes it more clear that China is one of the world’s most dynamic economies and that Ontario companies have what it takes to help China meet its priorities, like clean water, clean technology and agri-food production and innovation.”
Ontario has always had a strong friendship with China and now’s the time to make it even stronger, added McGuinty.
The mission, which starts Jan. 20, will include meetings with Chinese government officials and business leaders, with stops in Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing and Chengdu.
The delegation will also include Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid and Tourism Minister Michael Chan.
McGuinty has led trade missions to China, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Israel, the West Bank and Lebanon since 2005.
The government says the trips raised Ontario’s profile as a global leader in clean energy, innovation, education and life sciences and resulted in over $1.5 billion in business agreements.
– Canadian Press
Kissinger Criticizes Both Romney and Obama on China Bashing
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is sharply criticizing both U.S. presidential candidates for appealing to American suspicions of China in their campaigns.
Kissinger said Wednesday the candidates have used “extremely deplorable” language, labeling China a cheat.
Last week both campaigns issued ads promising to get tough over alleged Chinese trade violations often blamed for major U.S. job losses.
Kissinger was the architect of U.S. re-engagement with Beijing 40 years ago. He still advocates better relations between the superpowers.
Kissinger has endorsed Mitt Romney but made clear Wednesday he opposed the candidate’s promise to designate China a currency manipulator, saying virtually all China experts oppose it.
He said “theoreticians” advocating that step, lacking experience with China, have turned it into a crusade.
– AP
Mulroney: Free Trade with China a Decade Away
Typical Canadian thinking. In that time, half the world will have signed wih China and again Canadians will be griping about being slow off the mark. Take a page out of New Zealand’s book, please.
Video: Hyper Supermarket Competition in China
This Reuters video is only partly right because it was shot in Shanghai where RT Mart reins supreme but has no presence in Beijing where Carrefour, Walmart, Metro and an assortment of Chinese chains like WuMart, BHG, Chaoshifa, Jingkelong, just to name a few, fight it out. But, let’s not forget that most Chinese, especially lower income groups and the elderly, still shop at convenient local farmer’s markets where meat, produce, and fruit is considerably cheaper than in the supermarkets.
Dutch Researcher: Han Dynasty and Roman Empire Caused Rise in GHGs
Quirky yet interesting research.
A record of the atmosphere trapped in Greenland’s ice found the level of heat-trapping methane rose about 2,000 years ago and stayed at that higher level for about two centuries.
Methane was probably released during deforestation to clear land for farming and from the use of charcoal as fuel, for instance to smelt metal to make weapons, lead author Celia Sapart of Utrecht University in the Netherlands told Reuters.
“Per capita they were already emitting quite a lot in the Roman Empire and Han Dynasty,” she said of the findings by an international team of scientists in Thursday’s edition of the journal Nature.
Rates of deforestation “show a decrease around AD 200, which is related to drastic population declines in China and Europe following the fall of the Han Dynasty and the decline of the Roman Empire,” the scientists wrote.
Mankind’s emissions 2,000 years ago, when the world population was an estimated 300 million, were discernible but tiny compared with current levels caused by a population of 7 billion.
Sapart estimated that methane emissions until 1800 were about 10 percent of the total for the past 2,000 years, with 90 percent since the Industrial Revolution.
-Reuters
Op-Ed: Get a Grip Hong Kongers!
High time someone from Hong Kong editorialized about the Hong Konger penchant to cast anything the mainland or the SAR government tries to do in bettering mainland-HK relations as tantamount to interference in HK affairs. The latest is the mainland’s offer of assistance with the ferry accident. It’s an humanitarian gesture, for heaven’s sake. Get a grip people!
Of course, the small groups of mainland-haters want HKSAR to drift as far away from the mainland as possible. They thought HK would be be a catastrophe after the handover. It wasn’t and prospered. Now that mainlanders are more affluent they resent their shopping which generates jobs in Hong Kong. They see the end of ‘one country, two systems’ as fast approaching, even though it is still 35 years away, and the trend toward complete reunification as terrible. Hence, their desperation to put everything in the anti-mainland light.
This commentary in the English-language Hong Kong Standard is refreshing:
BCG: The $10 Trillion Prize
See this video about the Boston Consulting Group’s new book, The $10 Trillion Prize: Captivating the Newly Affluent in China and India https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/videos/unleashing_generation_new_spenders_china_india/
Japanese Scholar Sets Record Straight on Diaoyus
Here’s an interview with Yabuki Susumu, Professor Emeritus of Yokohama City University, who has been a prescient commentator on Japan-China relations. He lays the blame for the recent territorial dispute on the Noda Administration for ignoring and Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) officials for deleting from official records Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei and Premier Zhou Enlai’s decision to ‘shelve’ negotiations on the Diaoyus during their landmark talks on normalization of relations in 1972. The Japanese MoFA also deleted PM Tanaka’s apology on Japanese aggression.