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Graduates of Chinese Universities:Adjusting the Total

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Leo A. Orleans
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Extract

China's drive towards modernization has been accompanied by a phenomenal increase in the number of statistics available. The statistical hiatus during the Cultural Revolution was followed by a revived and revitalized State Statistical Bureau (SSB) which in recent years has been churning out figures on every conceivable aspect of China's economy and society. Notoriously suspect in the past, China's statistics are now recognized as being much more indicative of the true state of China's development and, what is more, they are improving.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 111 , September 1987 , pp. 444 - 449
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1987

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References

1. For example, the communiquéon the results of the 1982 census considered it important to report not only that China had 4,414,495 university graduates, but also that this figure translated to 599 graduates for every 100,000 people, an increase from 416 per 100,000 in 1964. (“Communique of the State Statistical Bureau of the People's Republic of China on major figures in the 1982 population census,” Xinhua, 27 October 1982.)

2. For a discussion of the alternate statistics on the number of college graduates reported by Beijing see,Orleans, Leo A., “The training and utilization of scientific and engineering manpower in the People's Republic of China,” Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. (October 1983), pp.41–43.Google Scholar

3. Ministry of Education, Department of Planning,Achievement of Education in China: Statistics 1949-83 (Zhongguo jiaoyu chengjiu) (Beijing: People's Education Press, 1985).

4. See, for example,Renmin ribao (People's Daily), 19 March 1985; transl. in FBIS–PRC, 26 March 1985, pp. K16–17.

5. For a description of the activities of students in the 1966–70 period see, for example,Jonathan, Unger, Education Under Mao (New York: Columbia University Press, 1982), pp. 110–36.Google Scholar

6. See, for example, UNESCO,1984 Statistical Yearbook.

7. The total number of graduates for 1950–52 was reported in The Ten Great Years,State Statistical Bureau (Beijing 1960), p. 194. The assumption that two–thirds of them completed a four–year institution is somewhat arbitrary and generous, but its order of magnitude is not significant in terms of the overall figure we are attempting to estimate.In 1953, 55% of the graduates fell into the category (Achievement).

8. It was reported that of the 286,990 graduates in 1984, 204,200 (71%) completed the full curriculum. [Gaoqiao Zhqnxian (Higher Education Front), No. 4, 14 April 1985; transl. in JPRS–CPS–85–080, 8 August 1985]. On 14 July 1985 Xinhua reported 277,000 graduates for 1985 (FBIS, 17 July 1985). It is assumed that the same proportion were four–year students as in 1984.