The provost of China¡¯s leading university has said that it is shifting towards cultivating students who feel comfortable challenging authority in the classroom, warning that focusing only on academic attainment risked turning campuses into ¡°degree factories¡±.

Bin Yang, vice-president of Tsinghua University, told Times Higher Education¡¯s Asia Universities Summit that the institution was ¡°crossing over from cultivating ¡®A¡¯ students¡± ¨C judged on their exam grades ¨C ¡°to ¡®X¡¯ students¡± ¨C a model focused on a ¡°spirit of disruptive innovation¡±.

And he highlighted reforms to the gao kao ¨C the national system of university entrance exams that allocates students to different tiers of institution based entirely on their test scores ¨C that aim to give universities more autonomy in their selection of students.

China¡¯s economy was moving from an era of ¡°high-speed growth¡± to one of ¡°high-quality growth¡± reliant on innovation, Professor Yang said.

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In China, ¡°schools always pick the A students who have the highest scores in written exams¡±, he explained. ¡°From kindergarten to the universities, students are always taking tests that have standard answers and [are] then ranked by their scores.¡±

But this model ¡°encourages uniformity and discourages diversity and the possibility to be different and bold¡±, he warned.

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¡°In the X model, the highest scores don¡¯t necessarily make you the best leaders, learners, creators or ideal candidates for anything,¡± Professor Yang said. ¡°We [at Tsinghua] appreciate, intrinsically, learning motivations more than¡­test grades.¡±

He continued: ¡°There are lots of criticisms about the gao kao system. If central government gives us the freedom, the liberty to choose [students], do we know what kinds of¡­knowledge, skills and attributes matter and how to judge them?¡±

Another aim of the X?model, Professor Yang said, was to ¡°encourage the students to value [the] authority of idea, instead of [the] idea of authority, which is relatively difficult in Asian culture. In other words, students shouldn¡¯t be afraid of challenging the current authority¡­The A?model represents standardised learning as if the university teachers and faculty understand exactly what the future will bring to?us.¡±

He added: ¡°The A?model facilitates the degree factory ¨C the mass-produced, one-size-fits-all approach to higher education. The X?model stands against standardised¡­notions of education and evaluation. Tsinghua is crossing over¡­from cultivating A?students. What China and the world really need are X?students.¡±

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Professor Yang also said: ¡°I?believe that the X?model approach will help Chinese universities and Asian universities to continue their rise and become global education leaders, not followers in the 21st century.¡±

Replying to questions from the audience, he noted that 10 Chinese provinces were reforming their university entrance exam procedures.

In Shanghai and Zhejiang provinces, students were judged ¡°60?per cent by gao kao scores and 40?per cent by university criteria¡±, Professor Yang said. ¡°So universities, they can select students by their stories and outcomes in other areas rather than just written exams. But it¡¯s just in a very early stage.¡±

He warned: ¡°One scandal can ruin all the reform battles¡­Then the central government, the president, would stop all the reforms. That¡¯s my concern. So it¡¯s very, very sensitive.¡±

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john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com