Unidad 6 El Chat

In 2009, XJTU became the new symposium host and chair of C9 presidents’ meeting. It decided to seize the opportunity and formally publicise the new C9 group through a high-profile event in Xi’an. On 9th _{October 2009, XJTU invited Zhao Xinping, who had just retired as deputy} education minister, to address the annual symposium.86 _{It also mobilised third-party allies,}

85 _{During 2008}_{2009, the C9 started to expand and deepen the group cooperation at other levels of key university}

personnel, such as C9 directors of policy and planning, directors of teaching affairs, and directors of president’s offices. In addition to the presidents and C9 executive deans of graduate studies who usually held regular, separate meeting sessions, other C9 sub-committees have also gradually formed their own regular meeting mechanisms. New ideas raised and formed by C9 presidents were passed onto the relevant C9 sub-committees of equivalent administrative roles to follow up and operationalise.

86 _{Zhao publicly praised and endorsed the group at the opening. He said, ‘The annual joint meetings of the nine}

universities have been very important. This is the seventh year and the first one held in our western region … It has provided a fantastic opportunity for us to discuss the issues of building world-class universities … I hope that the

higher education experts, to speak at the event on the global trends and benefits of forming university coalitions (XJTU, 2009; Zhao, 2009).87

More importantly, XJTU organised a formal signing ceremony for a C9 group agreement by the nine university leaders, witnessed by the government and media. This agreement derived from the 2008 C9 document, explicitly confirming their decision of formal grouping, and outlined their key collaborative areas.88 _{This news quickly attracted widespread attention, and pushed} the elite C9 group into the public spotlight.

News reports and online discussions about the new powerful ‘C9 coalition’ surged. Several C9 presidents accepted media interviews to improve the public understanding and support of the group.89 _{For instance, SJTU President Zhang Jie spoke with China National Radio (CNR) on 14} October 2009 (CNR, 2009):

This group is a collective alliance of China’s nine leading, comprehensive universities … The C9 embodies Chinese characteristics and a Chinese model [of higher education]. It brings together the power of a few universities with similar characteristics to help build Chinese world-class universities collaboratively.

The rise of the C9 attracted wide discussions and different reactions. Especially, scepticism and criticisms quickly grew within the sector. The leaders of some other national universities attempted to join this elite group, but became bitter and angry when they were rejected. They openly slammed and challenged the group, defining it as an ‘exclusive, self-interested

university presidents club’, and accusing the C9 of ‘disadvantaging other national institutions’

joint meetings of nine will become more and more successful, and will deepen exchanges and consolidate joint work, and engage with the world better’ (XJTU, 2009; Zhao, 2009).

87 _{The head of Research Institute for Educational Policy and Law, Beijing Normal University, for instance, spoke at}

the conference. He said that under the current circumstances, it was imperative to form university coalitions and share resources, and the grouping of universities was a trend and direction for the development of higher education.

88_{The full title of the agreement is ‘Agreement on talent training collaboration and exchange’ (rencai peiyang hezuo} yu jiaoliu xieyishu 人才培养合作与交流协议书). The agreement included the following objectives: to carry out undergraduate exchange and postgraduate joint training; complete credit recognition among the nine members; host joint C9 summer schools; strengthen collaboration with the US’s Ivy League and Australia’s Go8; establish a joint C9 website; establish a joint online review system for PhD theses evaluation; carry out joint work on teaching material and teaching reform; develop joint academic programs and online education portal; hold joint

undergraduate internship programs; and drive national research training reform (Q. Wang, 2009; XJTU, 2009; Zhao, 2009).

89 _{They included the then Zhejiang University President Yang Wei, Fudan University President Yang Yuliang, Xi’an}

and ‘damaging the equity of the sector’. Some even made formal complaints to the MoE, urging the government to intervene and dismiss it.90 _{Many believed that the C9’s}

establishment was too sensitive and controversial to succeed in such a context.

Despite its informal involvement and acknowledgement of the group, the MoE remained obscure and silent about the C9 in public. It was indeed caught in a dilemma in the debate and pressure from the sector. The only time it formally commented on the C9 was at a MoE media conference on 26th _{October 2009. When asked by a journalist about the government’s view on} the C9 coalition, the MoE spokeswoman Xu Mei made the following statement (China News, 2009):

There is an Ivy League in the US, which includes top institutions like Harvard and Yale. We recently saw that there is a similar university coalition called the Group of Eight in Australia, which includes prestigious Australian universities such as the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne. We have also noticed that a joint collaboration agreement was signed by the first nine university entrants in Project 985, including Peking, Tsinghua and Fudan. The coalition of the nine institutions is a very beneficial and advantageous exploration for China to build high-level universities, train elite and innovative talents, as well as strengthen international collaborations. The MoE has a positive and supportive attitude towards this coalition.

In addition to this positive comment, a dedicated ‘C9’ webpage was added to the homepage of a website of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, which doubled as the MoE Department of Postgraduate Education and was chaired by a state councillor. The page

included the following line, ‘As a result of the establishment of the coalition by nine prestigious Chinese universities, China’s very first elite university league was born’ (CDGDC, 2009). The party-controlled People’s Daily also set up a special English web section to introduce the C9. The page noted, ‘In 2009, nine Chinese universities formalised an elite group to foster better students and share their resources. This group is called C9 League, China’s Ivy League (People's Daily, 2009).’

90 _{For instance, there were numerous reports and recounts that the then President of Renmin University, Gu Jibao,}

a former head of the MoE research and development centre, had tried to pressure the C9 universities to accept his university to join the C9 group. When he failed, the university slammed the C9, questioned its legitimacy and urged the MoE to suspend it.