Li Deping: The Distinctive Characteristics of a Leading Education Power with Chinese Characteristics [1]
By Li Deping
The construction of an education power is a vital component of Chinese-path modernization. It shares the common features of world-leading education powers while possessing distinct Chinese characteristics. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the National Education Conference: "The education power we aim to build is a socialist education power with Chinese characteristics. It should possess strong ideological-political leadership, talent competitiveness, scientific and technological support, livelihood protection, social synergy, and international influence, providing robust support for comprehensively advancing the cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization." These "six major traits" collectively reflect the political, strategic, and people-centered attributes of a socialist education power with Chinese characteristics. They highlight its distinctive features and provide the fundamental guidance for its construction.
1. Strong Ideological-Political Leadership Ideological-political leadership embodies the political attribute of an education power and reflects the fundamental nature and tasks of education. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Whom to cultivate, how to cultivate them, and for whom to cultivate them is the fundamental question of education and the core task in building an education power." Education is of vital importance to the country and the Party [1]. The ideological nature of education dictates that in the New Era, we must persist in and guarantee the socialist direction of schooling and cultivate a new generation that unswervingly listens to and follows the Party.
Currently, the world is undergoing changes unseen in a century [2], with a global surge of colliding ideas and cultures. To guarantee the socialist direction of an education power, there is an urgent need to forge strong ideological-political leadership. As a distinctive feature and vital component of a socialist education power with Chinese characteristics, this leadership reflects the Party's high regard for ideological and political work. It also highlights the "lifeline" status [3] of ideological-political guidance in building an education power and embodies the fundamental requirement of integrating ideological-political work throughout the entire process of education and teaching.
The essence of ideological-political leadership is political leadership. To forge it, we must deeply understand its significance in consolidating ideological consensus and responding to risks and challenges. We must focus on the fundamental task of "fostering virtue through education" (立德树人, lì dé shù rén), deeply implement the "Project for Forging the Soul of the New Generation," and the campaign to strengthen teachers through the spirit of educators. We must normalize and institutionalize education on ideals and convictions, leverage the Party's political advantage in ideological leadership and the fine traditions of ideological and political education, and continuously enhance the synergy of ideological guidance across political, ideological, value-based, and cultural dimensions to maintain a firm political direction for the construction of an education power.
2. Strong Talent Competitiveness The contribution of talent is a key indicator for judging an education power. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "talent is the primary resource," and we must deeply implement the "Strategy on Developing a Quality Workforce" and persist in "talent-led driving." Talent is not only a strategic resource for seizing the initiative in international competition but also the primary resource for economic and social development. Whoever possesses first-class innovative talent possesses the advantage and dominance in scientific and technological innovation, and thus the driving force for high-quality economic and social development.
The current global round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is shifting modes of production and upgrading industries while simultaneously driving changes in the quality and structure of talent and education governance. Building an education power with strong talent competitiveness requires balancing the intrinsic value of education for individual growth with its instrumental value for social needs. Viewing this through the lens of well-rounded human development, we must base our efforts on the integrated system of education, technology, and talent, ensuring the coordinated advancement of building an education power, a science and technology power, and a talent power. We should prioritize the cultivation of top-tier innovative talent, focus on improving innovation capabilities, and optimize the layout of higher education according to new technological trends. This involves improving mechanisms for adjusting academic disciplines in universities, strengthening basic, emerging, and interdisciplinary subjects, and continuously improving the quality of independent talent cultivation. By empowering talent competitiveness through high-quality education, we guide talent to integrate their personal development into the national cause, fostering more strategic scientists, first-class technological leaders, and innovation teams with a sense of patriotism and strong political quality. By building a high-level talent pool, we can fortify "talent highlands" and competitive advantages, providing a strong guarantee of human and intellectual support for building a strong country and national rejuvenation.
3. Strong Scientific and Technological Support Science and technology are the key supports for building an education power. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The key to Chinese-path modernization lies in the modernization of science and technology" and "Whether we can build a great modern socialist country in all respects on schedule depends on high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology." Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and innovation is the primary driver of human social development. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has placed scientific and technological innovation at the center of national development. This has pushed China's scientific cause toward significant progress, with scientific strength transitioning from quantitative accumulation to qualitative leaps, and from individual breakthroughs to systemic capability enhancement. However, we must remain soberly aware that compared to the world's leading science and technology powers and the goals we have set, our scientific strength is not yet strong enough, our institutional mechanisms remain imperfect, and the overall efficiency of the national innovation system needs improvement. Currently, technological innovation has become the "commanding heights" [4] of national competition. Whoever grasps the "ox's nose" [5] of innovation and plays the "first move" [6] well will seize the initiative and win the advantage.
A strong nation requires strong science and technology. To enhance scientific support and promote the construction of an education power, we must firmly grasp the innovative characteristics and strategic pioneering status of an education power. We must prioritize education, implement the strategy of invigorating the country through science and education, and take serving national strategy and economic development as our core mission. We must accurately grasp the direction of technological development and strengthen innovation—especially original and disruptive innovation—to achieve high-level self-reliance and strength. This will facilitate the formation of new quality productive forces with technological innovation as the core element, shaping new drivers and advantages for development, and providing powerful scientific and technological support for Chinese-path modernization.
4. Strong Livelihood Protection Livelihood protection reflects the people-centered attribute of an education power, manifested in the commitment to developing education with a people-centered approach. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must persist in a people-centered approach, continuously improving the inclusiveness, accessibility, and convenience of public education services, so that the achievements of education reform and development benefit all people more fairly," and "Ultimately, we must run education that satisfies the people." Education is vital to the well-being of the people. Using high-quality education to protect and improve living standards and promote common prosperity for all is the value orientation of building an education power.
Our Party has always valued the people-centered and livelihood attributes of education. In different historical stages, we have continuously improved the inclusiveness, accessibility, and convenience of public education services. Since the New Era, based on the people’s aspiration for a better life, the Party and state have deepened education reform and built a high-quality, balanced basic public education service system. Significant results have been achieved in ensuring basics, fixing weak links, improving quality, and promoting equity. We have built the world’s largest education system, achieving a historic leap in the popularization of education and generally solving the problem of education "quantity." Now that the demand for "having access to school" has been met, the public's expectation for "attending good schools" and receiving more diverse, personalized education has grown stronger. Education is directly related to the realization of a better life. To build an education power and enhance livelihood protection, we must uphold the public welfare principle of education, correctly handle the relationship between supporting national strategy and meeting livelihood needs, and ensure that the warmth of educational reform is felt by the people, continuously enhancing their sense of equity, gain, and happiness.
5. Strong Social Synergy Social synergy is both an important component of an education power and the social foundation and supporting force for its development. Building such a power is a highly collaborative systemic project that requires pooling forces from all sectors. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "In running education well, families, schools, governments, and society all share responsibility." Social synergy is the key metric for collaborative education. Forming strong social synergy requires government coordination, school leadership, family responsibility, and social support. Government coordination refers to all levels of government, Women's Federations, and Committees for the Concern of the Next Generation (關工委, guāngōngwěi) guiding cooperation through mechanisms and policies. School leadership involves schools playing the role of organizer and coordinator. Family responsibility involves departments and schools providing support to help families play a greater role in the upbringing process. Social support involves communities and social education institutions integrating resources to provide platforms for collaborative education.
Social synergy is effectively the establishment of efficient collective action mechanisms between various entities to address public social issues; its essence is a "systems thinking" approach. To build an education power and manifest strong social synergy, we must persist in applying systems thinking, improve collaborative education mechanisms, and ensure systemic layout and collective effort. This will modernize the education governance system and capacity, solve institutional bottlenecks, and promote the systemic leap from a large education nation to a strong education power.
6. Strong International Influence International influence is a prominent hallmark of an education power. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must deeply promote the opening-up of education, coordinating 'bringing in' and 'going out' to continuously enhance the international influence, competitiveness, and discourse power of China's education. We must expand international academic exchanges and cooperation, actively participate in global education governance, and contribute more Chinese power to the development of global education." Chinese education cannot develop in isolation from the world, and world education cannot develop without China. As China's links with the world grow closer, we must coordinate the "bringing in" and "going out" strategies. These two are interdependent, reflecting the unity of openness and internationality. In the New Era, opening up faces new tasks. We must maintain a global vision and Chinese focus, balancing "rooting education in Chinese soil" [7] with learning from international experiences. We should support global researchers in coming to China for cooperation, making China a world-leading education center with strong influence. By deeply participating in global governance and deepening cooperation with multilateral organizations like UNESCO, China can play a larger role in education aid, poverty reduction through education, and digital education, contributing more Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions.
(Author: Li Deping, Party Secretary and Professor at Nanchang Hangar University) Source: Guangming Daily (December 20, 2024, Page 06)