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Is the real-life version of "Shanhe University" really coming?

Last year, the fictitious "Shanhe University" created by students from the "Four Provinces of Mountains and Rivers" became popular on the Internet. In reality, Henan Province and Shandong Province have both clearly expressed their intention to build a "Yellow River University" in recent years, which coincides with the call for "Shanhe University".

Not long ago, the project processing results of the application system on the Henan Province Investment Project Online Approval and Supervision Platform were announced, showing that the first phase of the Yellow River University (Preparatory) project was approved by the Economic Development Bureau (Statistics Bureau) of Zhengzhou Airport Economic Comprehensive Experimental Zone (hereinafter referred to as "Zhengzhou Airport") and has been registered.

In response, the Henan Provincial Department of Education said that it is currently in the planning stage and "will only be established after all the infrastructure, teachers, instruments, equipment and other conditions are in place."

However, a few days later, the planning of Yellow River University changed again. At present, the Times Weekly reporter searched for the results of the relevant projects of "Yellow River University" on the above platform, and it showed "no data yet".

According to media reports, relevant staff from the Economic Development Bureau (Statistics Bureau) of Zhengzhou Airport Economic Zone were informed that "it is not being implemented for the time being" and the company's application has been withdrawn.

The Times reporter then called the Economic Development Bureau (Statistics Bureau) of Zhengzhou Airport Economic Zone, and the staff said, "We are only responsible for approval. If we don't want to do it, we need to ask the initiator."

The Yellow River University, which Henan has been waiting for for a long time, seems to have become "confusing" again. How far is the Yellow River University from the "Mountain and River University" that people have been looking forward to?

△ The approval notice of Yellow River University is no longer available for viewing

Yellow River University: Only in operation for 6 years

As early as 2020, a netizen suggested on a certain leader’s message board that Henan could rebuild the "Yellow River University."

The netizen suggested, "Henan should fully seize the two major opportunities of promoting high-quality development in the central region and the national strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin in the new era, give full play to the status and role of Zhengzhou as a national central city, build on the advantages of the aviation port area, target basic disciplines, basic research, and technological frontiers, especially "bottleneck" problems, gather global talents, strengthen Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools or exchanges and cooperation, work hard on "going out", and rebuild the Yellow River University."

In response to this, the Henan Provincial Department of Education specifically replied that it "will fully consider this suggestion."

Coincidentally, there are also such calls in Shandong.

At the end of May 2021, a netizen proposed in the "People's Voice" column of the Jinan Municipal People's Government website to build a university with kinetic energy conversion as its theme and the Yellow River New District as its main body.

The netizen said, "Shandong has always been criticized by students across the province for having few high-level universities, average university levels and homogeneous characteristics, and inflated scores in some universities. The result is a serious internal competition among talents in the province, a loss of high-scoring talents, and poor employment quality."

In response to this, the Management Committee of the Jinan New and Old Kinetic Energy Conversion Pilot Zone replied that it will explore the establishment of the Yellow River University and explore the establishment of Sino-foreign cooperative education projects with independent legal person qualifications in the starting area.

Chinese people always have a special feeling for the Yellow River, and the name of "Yellow River University" may also have a unique influence.

△ Zhengzhou Yellow River Highway Bridge, Image source: Tuchong

In fact, in history there was indeed a well-known Yellow River University in Zhengzhou, Henan.

In 1984, Chinese-American educator Dr. Cheng Junfu signed a memorandum with the Henan Provincial Government to plan the establishment of Yellow River University, and decided to use the Third Guesthouse of the Provincial Party Committee, which covers an area of ​​more than 1,200 acres, as the school site.

At that time, the preparation for the establishment of the Yellow River University received widespread attention from overseas Chinese, and many overseas Chinese helped Henan raise funds. For example, Sun Yat-sen's granddaughter Sun Suifang sold an office building in Hawaii and donated it to Henan to build the Yellow River University.

Huanghe University was formally established in 1985. According to relevant data, Huanghe University is the first modern university jointly established by China and foreign countries. Its first president is Qin Yuanxun, an academician of the two academies and a meritorious scientist of the two bombs. It has implemented many new measures such as the principal responsibility system, the teacher appointment system, and the credit system.

The main departments, majors and teaching staff of Yellow River University are advanced enough even among universities across the country. At the beginning of the school, there were more than 120 famous professors and doctors teaching at Yellow River University, including 54 foreign professors.

The university first opened four graduate programs: computer software, economic management, American studies, and English and American language and literature. Since 1986, it has set up five departments and 10 programs: construction engineering, computer science, economic management, material engineering, and transportation engineering, to cultivate construction talents urgently needed in Henan Province. In the five years since its establishment, Yellow River University has sent more than 470 graduate students.

△ Advertisement for enrollment at Yellow River University in its early days

The academic atmosphere at Yellow River University is very strong, with lectures and academic conferences happening one after another. As early as 1986, it hosted the National Conference on Computer Algorithm Design and Analysis and the National Conference on Formal Languages ​​and Automata Theory, attracting more than 80 colleges and universities from all over the country to participate.

But the good times did not last long. The school under the new system was only in operation for six years. After the original president left, talent began to leave, and due to other reasons, Yellow River University was merged into Zhengzhou University in 1991.

"As the first modern university jointly established by China and foreign countries, the educational philosophy and model of Yellow River University were groundbreaking at the time and had a profound impact on higher education in Henan and even the whole country." Zhou Fulin, professor at the School of Statistics and Big Data of Henan University of Finance and Economics and vice president of the Henan Population Society, told the Times Weekly reporter.

In fact, during the same period when the Yellow River University was being planned, Henan also founded the Yellow River Science and Technology College, the first private college in China, which was also named after the Yellow River. In addition, there are currently three schools named after the Yellow River in Henan Province, namely the Yellow River Communications College (undergraduate), the Yellow River Water Conservancy Vocational and Technical College (junior college), and the Zhengzhou Yellow River Nursing Vocational College (junior college), all of which are private schools.

Henan Province is "working hard" to build universities

The news of the reconstruction of Yellow River University inevitably reminds people of the call for "Mountain and River University" that went viral on the Internet last year.

As provinces with large populations, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan and Hebei are known as the "Four Provinces of Mountains and Rivers". At the educational level, they face the same problem: a large number of college entrance examination candidates but relatively scarce educational resources.

Faced with this reality, the virtual "Shanhe University" was built by netizens. It is a comprehensive university located at the junction of four provinces, providing education for students from the "Four Provinces of Shanhe". Even the school's official website, school emblem, school motto, school address, admission notice, and campus floor plan were quickly designed.

△ Admission letter of "Shanhe University" made by netizens Source: Internet

From the fictitious "Shanhe University" to the long-awaited "Yellow River University", rumors of new universities always arouse the interest of Henan people. Behind this is actually the expectation and effort of Henan, a province with a large population and a large economy, for a good university.

Zhou Fulin told the Times Weekly reporter, "In terms of the number of existing colleges and universities, Henan has 174 undergraduate and junior college colleges, ranking first in the country, but the quality of higher education is uneven, high-quality higher education resources are relatively scarce, there are only two double first-class universities, and there are deficiencies in the ability to cultivate high-level talents."

"As a province with a large population, Henan's number of college entrance examination applicants has ranked among the top in the country for many years in a row, and the demand for high-quality higher education is very urgent," said Zhou Fulin.

Taking this year's data as an example, the number of people who registered for the national college entrance examination in 2024 is 13.42 million, of which 1.36 million are in Henan, accounting for about one-tenth of the country.

In fact, faced with such urgent reality, Henan Province has been "desperately" building universities in recent years.

In the list of national universities in 2024 released by the Ministry of Education, Henan replaced Jiangsu for the first time with a total of 174 universities, becoming the top province this year. According to statistics, in the past ten years (2015-2024), Henan has added 45 universities, becoming the province with the largest number of newly added universities in the past 10 years.

In the past two years, Henan has completed the approval and establishment of Xinyang Normal University, Zhengzhou Academy of Fine Arts and 11 technical colleges.

Public information shows that from 2012 to 2021, the province of Henan's education funding increased from 146.6 billion yuan in 2012 to 277.5 billion yuan. Among them, fiscal education funding increased from 110.6 billion yuan in 2012 to 192.7 billion yuan, both increasing by nearly 90% in ten years.

So, since Henan already has the largest number of colleges and universities in the country, why is it necessary to set up a new "Yellow River University"?

At present, in the list of universities for 2024 released by the Ministry of Education, there are only 60 undergraduate colleges among the 174 universities in Henan, accounting for only 34%.

On the other hand, Henan has only one 211 university, Zhengzhou University. Of the 147 "double first-class" universities in the country, Henan has only two.

As pointed out in the "Self-examination and Self-evaluation Report on the Henan Provincial People's Government's Performance of Educational Responsibilities in 2021", the problem existing in higher education in Henan Province is that the overall strength of higher education in the province is still relatively weak.

It can be said that for Henan, the more urgent issue is not the gap in the number of universities, but the shortage of high-quality universities.

△ Zhengzhou University, Image source: Tuchong

In 2021, the Henan Provincial Party Committee put the development strategy of "innovation-driven, science and education-driven, and talent-driven" at the top of Henan's "Ten Strategies". By then, Henan proposed to take the construction of "Double First-Class" as an important part of innovative development and made a strategic deployment to build Zhengzhou University and Henan University into "double aircraft carriers".

In November of that year, the Henan Provincial Government issued the "Implementation Opinions on Improving the Scientific and Technological Innovation Capabilities of Colleges and Universities" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Opinions"), proposing that by 2025, all provincial cities in Henan and the Jiyuan Demonstration Zone will achieve full coverage of undergraduate colleges and universities.

The "Implementation Opinions" mentioned that Henan will establish the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, restore and rebuild Zhang Zhongjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, establish a sports college, a fine arts college, a music college, etc. to fill the gaps in undergraduate university types, and build 1-2 high-level Sino-foreign cooperative universities with independent legal personality.

From this point of view, if the rebuilt Yellow River University can continue its former Sino-foreign joint venture genes, it will coincide with the "Implementation Opinions" on "building a high-level Sino-foreign cooperative university with independent legal personality."

Zhou Fulin pointed out that if Yellow River University can be successfully rebuilt, it will help introduce new educational concepts and models and improve the overall quality of Henan's higher education. It will also provide Henan candidates with more high-quality higher education resources and ease the pressure of further study. "More importantly, a higher education institution with a wide range of influence will attract more talents and resources to gather, injecting strength into Henan's modern industrial construction and economic development."

△ Zhengzhou CBD night view, source: Tuchong

However, Zhou Fulin believes that the reconstruction of Yellow River University needs to pay attention to how to effectively integrate existing higher education resources to avoid duplication and waste of resources. "The positioning and goals of Yellow River University should be clarified according to the development needs and actual situation of Henan's higher education. For example, in the context of the current development of new quality productivity, it should be built in the direction of a new type of research university."

It is understood that the new type of research university is considered to be a high-level evolution of higher education based on traditional research universities. It has the characteristics of a high-starting point school-running positioning, a flat organizational system, interdisciplinary integration, leading the scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, integration of industry and education, and integration of science, technology and education. Its core feature is high-quality service to major national strategies.

At present, typical new research universities in my country include Southern University of Science and Technology, Shanghai University of Science and Technology, and West Lake University. The ones under construction include Fuyao University of Science and Technology, Oriental Polytechnic University (tentative name), Shenzhen Polytechnic University, and Rehabilitation University, etc. These universities are positioned as high-starting, small but fine, research-oriented, and internationalized, with the goal of building world-class universities.

In this regard, there have been calls from all walks of life in Henan. Previously, the "Zhengzhou New Infrastructure Construction Demonstration Zone Development Plan (2021-2025)" proposed "learning from the school-running models of Zhejiang West Lake University and Guangdong Southern University of Science and Technology, and planning to build 1-2 high-level research universities in Zhengzhou."

At present, it seems that it is still a long way to go to build the Yellow River University from scratch, but Henan has also worked hard to find its own "substitute".

The more recent change is that Henan is intensively introducing first-class university research institutes from outside the province to bring more high-level R&D forces to make up for Henan's shortcomings in science and education. In 2022, first-class universities such as Harbin Institute of Technology and Shanghai Jiaotong University have already opened their Zhengzhou research institutes. In the next three to five years, Henan plans to build about 30 first-class university Zhengzhou research institutes.

With the withdrawal of the Yellow River University preparatory project, it is still unknown when the Yellow River University will be established and what kind of educational model it will adopt.

But what is certain is that Henan’s exploration for high-quality higher education will not and cannot stop.

Written by｜Wang Yingling

Editor:Pan Zhanhong

Layout｜ Pine