Unshackling universities

It's by no means easy to reduce government involvement in the management of universities, says an article in Dazhong Daily. Following is an excerpt:

Universities, as one member of the National Committee of the CPPCC recently suggested, should free themselves from the control of administrative powers. The old practice of universities being designated a certain administrative level, like provincial or ministerial, should be stopped and they should be allowed to choose presidents by themselves rather than by government.

It is known that the designation of administrative levels for universities has marginalized academic research. People have long called for the abolition of the system, but it seems quite hard to do so.