A move in the right direction

On Sept 10, 2009, Zhu Qingshi, former president of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), and an elite member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was appointed founding president of the South University of Science and Technology (SUST) for a five-year term.

The appointment marks not only the end of a global search - which lasted more than one year and attracted more than 200 candidates - for the new university's president, but also a milestone in the development of the university. I have high expectations for the university, which is being built in Shenzhen, a city that was the "window" to China's reform and opening policy.

The expectations come first from my appreciation of Zhu's conviction to end bureaucratization in Chinese universities. China's higher education has been widely criticized, particularly for its bureaucratization. Strangely enough, each Chinese university is assigned an administrative rank, from the so-called "vice-ministerial level," to "bureau level," and so on.