EDITORIAL : THE GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA

College and national success entwined

Tsinghua University, one of China's top institutions of higher education, celebrated its centennial anniversary on Sunday. Tsinghua is very young compared with major world universities like Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard. However, officials and scholars said during the celebration that Tsinghua would strive to be ranked alongside these major universities within the next few decades.

The goal might be realized someday, but a prerequisite will have to be there – China needs to become the real superpower in the world. At the moment, the UK and the US, successively crowned as the world's No.1 superpower, now have the world's most famous and respected universities. If China only leads in GDP and fails in a more comprehensive rise, its top universities like Tsinghua and Beida will hardly walk far in the world.

China's emergence injects funds and vigor into its universities. In recent years, Tsinghua has rocketed into the top 60 in world university rankings, thanks to the macro-context of China's rise. Tsinghua's centennial history exactly mirrors the path of the nation. Without national rise, educational prosperity is unimaginable.

Nevertheless, national rise doesn't necessarily entail universities' rise. Educators from universities should seize the pulse of the times and focus on the essence of higher education. Fundamentally, universities have to foster courageous, diligent students who have a profound sense of responsibility for society. This is not only the soul of universities, but also a driving force for China's growth in the future.

Comprehensive national rise is not an empty concept – it is an integration of individual efforts, and the optimum operation status of society. National competition in the 21st century is basically a race among people in different countries. China urgently needs talented graduates who are able to make the country really strong and powerful.

The nation urgently needs elites who are able to learn from other countries while having confidence in their own country.

Universities play a significant role in this process. To some degree, how China's future looks depends on whether its universities are able to cultivate top talent. Over the past decades, China's universities have fostered many outstanding professionals who have made solid contributions to national emergence. But this role has to be further reinforced.

China's top universities are often described as the "preschools" for talented Chinese students seeking to study abroad. Such a role has to be transformed. These universities should try to solve existing problems like academic pragmatism and improve their management systems, so as to play out their essential role more effectively. Educators should focus less on rankings and more on education itself.