The Effects of Higher Education and Studying Abroad in the Formation of China's Elites

Some Analyses of Various Leaders' Careers

Abstract

This paper aims to elucidate the effects and implications for China of higher education and overseas study. For this purpose 1, 333 leaders in various fields who completed higher education and/or studied abroad have been extracted from persons listed in a “Who's Who in China” published by Shanghai Dictionary Publishing Company in 1989, and their school career and professional experiences analyzed.
Ragarding schooling within China, 924 people (68.5%) are graduates of ordinary universities and colleges, followed by 204 (15.1%) graduates of some military institutions and 115 (8.5%) graduates of Communist Party schools and cadre training schools. As far as their academic specialities are concerned, those who studied engineering are the most numerous, amounting to 230 (17.2%). In contrast to China's strong image of a “super-gerontocracy”, many leaders are college graduates of the post-liberation era and the rejuvenation of various leaders has gradually been taking place. Generally speaking, what emerges is an image of leaders with knowledge and skills in science and technology, unlike the traditional image of Chinese leaders, who were inclined to be dominated by the literati.
What deserves special mention is the fact as many as 309 people (23.2%) have experience of studying abroad. Judging from the country to which they went, there has been a clear “shift of center” according to the period, i.e. from Japan to the US, then from the US to the Soviet Union. Today one can clearly see the outcome of studying in the Soviet Union during the 1950s.
Analyzing the professional careers taken up by these leaders and their academic specialities, the largest number have taken administrative or governmental jobs, and economics seems to be considered the most important discipline for a future bureaucrat. There are a few cases of mismatches but most of the bureaucrats with training in technology and agriculture as their academic background have been skilfully allotted to relevant posts. Party schools and cadre schools have played an important role in training those engaged in party-related jobs. Furthermore, among college professors, researchers, engineers, journalists, elementary and secondary school teachers, military personnel and judicial officers, there is also a high degree of coincidence between the academic speciality and subsequent professional career. Thus the effects of planned training and planned job allotment can be clearly recognized. In particular, the degree of coincidence of the administrative content of the work of Ministers and Vice-ministers with their past academic speciality is much higher than in Japan.