This article is from WeChat official account:Sciencenet (ID: sciencenet-cas) , author: Maxing Yu, Hu Yuanyuan, Zhang Zi Yue, Dong Yuxin, Xu Jingwen Wang Qi, the original title: “an increase of up to 81%! After being shortlisted for “Double First Class”, 45 local colleges and universities funding inventory”, title picture from: Vision China
Up to now, a total of 47 local colleges and universities in my country have been shortlisted for “double first-class” construction universities and construction disciplines.
Compared with the original “985 Project” colleges and universities affiliated to the central ministries and commissions and the general “One Province, One” provincial original “211 Project” colleges and universities, there are many more places in the “double first-class” colleges and universities with a total of 137 The figure of academies.
So, how much “real money” did the first round of “double first-class” construction provide for selected local colleges and universities? We have carried out a detailed analysis of the funding it received.
What are the local universities that are shortlisted for “Double First Class”
At the end of the last century, after a large number of industry-run schools were cancelled, Chinese universities basically formed a pattern of running schools at the central and local levels.
After a large number of downsized universities directly under the central ministries and commissions have been shut down and transferred, they are currently mainly concentrated in a few ministries and commissions such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and a total of 117; other universities are mostly run by local governments.
However, compared with the universities directly under the central ministries and commissions, local universities have relatively tight funding for running schools, and they have a stronger demand for more policy and financial support. This situation is more obvious in the central and western regions.
In fact, there were only 28 local colleges and universities in the original “Project 211”, accounting for only 1/4 of the total number. The number of local colleges and universities shortlisted in the list of “double first-class” construction universities and construction disciplines has increased significantly, accounting for 34% of all “double first-class” universities; Yunnan University, Zhengzhou University and Xinjiang University are also shortlisted. (Class B) to build a first-class university.
In addition to the local colleges and universities that were originally “Project 211”, a total of 25 colleges and universities that were not “Project 211″ received”Double first-class” construction support, excluding 6 colleges and universities directly under the ministries and commissions in Beijing (ie, the Foreign Affairs College of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Except for the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the Central Academy of Drama, the People’s Public Security University of the Ministry of Public Security and the Peking Union Medical College of the National Health Commission), the other 19 are all local universities.
The 47 local colleges and universities shortlisted for the “Double First Class” are located in 27 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Among them, Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Sichuan each have 6, 5, and 4 shortlisted, the largest number, accounting for 1/3; Beijing and Tianjin each have 3; Guangdong, Henan, Xinjiang, Zhejiang each have 2; Gansu, In Chongqing, Shandong, and Hubei, either because of the strength of universities or because of the large number of universities directly affiliated to ministries and commissions, none of the local universities has been selected as the “Double First Class”. It must be said that it is a pity.
Table 1. “Double First Class” Construction of Local Colleges and Universities
Has the local “double first-rate” colleges become rich?
Data shows that from the announcement of the “Double First Class” list in September 2017 to 2019, the funding of local colleges and universities has increased significantly after being selected for the “Double First Class”, with an average increase of 21% in the three years.(Individual institutions did not count due to incomplete data). Among them, Xinjiang University increased by 81%, Southwest Petroleum University also increased by 75%, and Anhui University, Nanjing University of Information Technology, and Hebei University of Technology also increased by more than 50%.
Among the 6 colleges with negative growth, except for Guizhou University, which has a negative growth of 55% due to the settlement of provincial colleges’ debts, the other 5 schools are Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine,University of Science and Technology, Beijing University of Technology and Inner Mongolia University.
From the perspective of revenue from the final financial accounts in 2019, Zhengzhou University ranked first in the local “double first-class” income list with 6.355 billion yuan, and Shanghai University and Soochow University ranked second and third. Surprisingly, Guangxi University and Xinjiang University ranked 6th and 7th respectively. Henan University ranked 10th with 3.036 billion yuan, which shows how important Henan is to provincial “double first-class” universities.
The average school funding of all 45 colleges and universities is 2.29 billion yuan(Nanchang University and Tibet University did not have public data that year), which is higher than There are 16 universities with an average value, while those below the average value and the original “211 Project” universities are Anhui University, Northwest University, Qinghai University, Ningxia University, Sichuan Agricultural University, Shihezi University, Liaoning University, Inner Mongolia University, Yanbian University and Northeast Agriculture More than 10 universities, including universities, indicate that their financial support is still relatively limited.
Take Anhui University as an example. In 2019, its fiscal final account revenue broke through the 2 billion yuan mark for the first time, reaching 2.12 billion yuan. However, this growth did not come from provincial government appropriations and business income, but from borrowing and the central government to support the reform and development of local colleges and universities, which shows that local governments are still relatively limited in their support.
Figure 1. 22 local colleges and universities with higher-than-average funding increases from 2017 to 2019
In general, the status of “double first-rate” colleges and universities has brought guarantees for colleges and universities to obtain more funds.
In 2019, the average public budget education expenditure for ordinary college students nationwide is 23453.39 yuan. Judging from the revenue of the fiscal final accounts in 2019, the actual appropriations per student of the 45 local “double first-class” colleges and universities that can be checked are all significantly higher than the local average.
Among them, 15 colleges have reached more than twice the local per student funding, and 12 colleges have exceeded 50%, that isNingbo University, which has the lowest cost, is also about 4% higher than Zhejiang Province’s per student funding.
Table 2. The difference between the provincial-level student appropriation and the school’s actual student appropriation in the fiscal final accounts for 2019
It should be pointed out that the main source of income for local colleges and universities is the financial appropriation of the local government, and the different levels of investment in various regions have led to the gap between the rich and the poor between the colleges and universities, but the gap in income levels is still the largest. Between colleges directly under the ministry and local colleges and universities.
In 2019, the top ten universities with the highest revenue from local “double first-class” universities received an average of 4.130 billion yuan, while the average funding received by the top ten universities directly under the Ministry of Education in 2018 As much as 14.805 billion yuan, the gap between central and local governments can be seen.
Figure 2. Comparison of the top ten final accounts of universities directly under the Ministry of Education in 2018 and the top ten final accounts of “double first-class” local universities in 2019
Figure 3. “Double First Class” local colleges and universities 20Comparison of the top ten after the final accounts in 19 years and the ten after the final accounts of the universities directly under the Ministry of Education in 2018
How about the “double first-class” colleges and universities that were not originally “Project 211”
Among the “Double First-Class” universities, 19 formerly non-“Project 211” local universities in 8 regions are strongly shortlisted for the “Double First-Class”. Most of them are concentrated in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. These 19 colleges and universities have distinctive professional characteristics. Unlike most comprehensive universities that belong to the original “211 Project” in the provinces, they have become “upstarts” pursued by candidates because of their relatively single subject attributes.
In 2019, the average total funding of these 19 colleges and universities was 1.745 billion yuan. Among them, Capital Normal University, Henan University, Ningbo University, Southwest Petroleum University and Chengdu University of Technology are among the top five.
Even Henan University, which is located in the Higher Education Depression, has a funding of 3.036 billion yuan in 2019, and the actual financial allocation for students is 32,100 yuan, which is much higher than the average level of 15,500 yuan in Henan Province.
Although the average school funding of these 19 colleges and universities is lower than the original “211 Project” local “double first-class” colleges and universities (from the financial statements released in 2019 In terms of income, the average school funding is 2.685 billion yuan, excluding Nanchang University and Tibet University), but from the perspective of the average funding for students, the former’s 68,300 yuan is significantly higher than the latter’s 40,500 yuan .
The difference in the level of unit capital investment is naturally transmitted to the level of discipline construction. In fact, in the fourth round of subject evaluation, 24 of the 47 local “double first-class” colleges and universities have achieved a subject level of A.
Among them, not the original “211 Project” colleges and universities accounted for 14, accounting for more than half of 58%. Among the 12 colleges and universities rated as A+ disciplines, 9 are not local colleges and universities of the original “211 Project”, accounting for 75%, and their discipline strength clearly exceeds that of the original “211 Project” universities in the provinces. In the fourth round of subject evaluation, the B with the lowest grade was the former “211 Project” universities such as Qinghai University, Ningxia University and Shihezi University.
Therefore, in the “double first-class” project focusing on discipline construction, the strength and prospects of disciplines should be closely related to capital investment.
Figure 4. “Double First Class” local colleges and universities in the fourth round of the best grade distribution of subject evaluation
Among the 47 “double first-rate” local universities, only Zhengzhou University and Xinjiang University have been selected as first-class disciplines. Among them, Zhengzhou University ranked first in the 2019 financial final accounts with 6,355,110,700 yuan; the total funding of Xinjiang University increased from 1,803,176,600 yuan in 2017 to 3,261,778,400 yuan in 2019, an increase of 81%. The declared factors of the construction of the new campus, but the continued investment of the local government is still critical.
In addition, the average total funding of local colleges and universities with the best score of A in the fourth round of subject evaluation is 2.321 billion yuan in 2019, which is higher than the average of 2.253 billion yuan for local colleges with the best score of B. It can be seen that there is a close connection between the ability of discipline construction and the funds that universities can obtain.
Figure 5. The number of first-class disciplines selected by local colleges and universities, their evaluation grades and the total funding of the school in 2019
Overall, the in-depth implementation of the “Double First-Class” construction provides more opportunities for local colleges and universities to develop, expand, and empower them at a high level.
At present, colleges and universities including the “Double First Class” are undergoing a comprehensive test of the fifth round of subject evaluation, and dynamic adjustments will follow. Compared with the institutions directly under the central ministries and commissions, although local “double first-class” institutions lack sustained and stable central financial support, they will also strive for more funds for themselves by virtue of their strong and distinctive academic strength.
Note: ①The data used in this article is mainly the income of the final accounts for 2017~2019; ②The article uses the number of available school-based, junior college, and graduate students; ③Shihezi University belongs to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and is regarded as a local college in this article. ④ Before the deadline, Nanchang University and Tibet University found no public final accounts data for 2019.
This article is from WeChat official account:Sciencenet (ID: sciencenet-cas), author: Maxing Yu, Hu Yuanyuan, Zhang Zi Yue, Dong Yuxin, Xu Jingwen Wang Qi, the current content provided by the Anhui Normal University Journalism and Communication, “the number of Yu Li” data news team, Wang re-think, Zhoumeng Ya also contributed