问答题 1.  In late October, the Chinese Government released an overall plan to increase the number of top universities and academic disciplines in China. From the excerpts, you can find that the initiative seems to have been doubt and criticism.
    Write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should:
    1. summarize the main points of different sides, and then
    2. express your opinion towards the initiative, especially on whether it will elevate the Chinese Universities.
    Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization, language quality and use of academic conventions. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
    Write your article on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.
    Critics
    Chinese universities are managed like government departments and some university professors are eager to become officials and make money rather than focusing on research and teaching. The initiative to build world-class universities should be driven by reform and innovation, including managerial and institutional innovation. Institutional barriers hindering the rapid development of universities should be removed, while vibrant, efficient, open institutions and centers promoting sustainable development should be established sooner. The government should change its way of thinking under a planned economy. It should change the old practice of focusing on supporting some universities with funding and preferential policies, and turn toward creating an equal competition environment and encouraging universities to stand out in competition.
    Universities
    Wan Lijun (President of the University of Science and Technology of China) Developed countries have achieved national prosperity and led global trends for world-class universities, and such colleges represent a country's education level and national comprehensive strength. Once a country's science and technology, and social, cultural and educational development reach a certain level, esteemed schools will be urgently needed for further promoting development. In recent years, China has significantly increased research and development spending and launched initiatives to reform the higher education system. Official statistics show that research and development spending exceeded 2 percent of China's GDP in 2013, for the first time since 1949. That has increased research capacity and productivity for the institutions, and helped raise their international profiles.
    Chen Jun (the President of Nanjing University) There is no one strict and universal standard for world-class universities though world-class universities must have advanced education ideas and an independent university spirit, be able to train leaders for various industries, achieve epoch-making research results, and produce significant impact on social, economic and cultural development. Meanwhile, cheerful messages about new scientific discoveries and prize winners on the website of Tsinghua University yield a glimpse into the vibrant academic life on its huge campus. As a leading university in China, Tsinghua gathers some of the best and brightest minds in the country. Its international reputation is also ascending. Tsinghua faculties and students have steadily published research results in well-known academic journals such as Science and Nature, which contribute to its high scores.
    Zhu Xiulin (President of Suzhou University) Compared with top universities in other countries, Chinese institutions have some weak points. Their overall teaching quality, innovation ability and social service level should be improved. Although the quantity of research publications has increased remarkably, the quality of Chinese universities' research, as indicated by citations, lags behind, and technology transfer is sluggish and ossified practices in evaluation and incentivization, such as rewarding publication quantity over quality, are holding Chinese universities back. Therefore, fair competition should be introduced so that the incentive system will reward outstanding universities and result in a higher overall number of such institutions in China.