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The bare truth about official degrees

By CHEN WEIHUA
Updated: 2009-08-25 00:00

 In a country where a number of senior government leaders hold a master’s or doctorate degree, newly-appointed Suzhou Party secretary Jiang Hongkun’s on-the-job junior college diploma looks sheepishly lackluster at first glance.

Critics have little faith in Jiang’s humble education and question whether he is capable of taking the top rank in the fast-growing city, which has the fifth-largest economy among Chinese cities. The three predecessors of Jiang all had a PhD.

Contrary to the traditional Confucian worship of a scholastic background, the overwhelming public has been singing high praises for the 55-year-old’s junior college training.

The interpretation is quite revealing of the dubious link between academic degrees and government officials. It is considered too easy for a high-ranking official like Jiang to get a postgraduate degree, especially given that his last job as mayor of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, meant such unlimited opportunities from prestigious universities in the city.

Many government leaders have undergone academic courses while holding senior posts, although no one knows how these people manage enough time away from their official duties to attain a postgraduate degree. The open secret is that many universities are too eager to grant degrees to senior government officials, particularly those who wield the power of appointing their school presidents.

The other open secret is that the secretaries of many such officials are kept busy doing the homework, writing the papers and even attending classes on behalf of their bosses.

This is why Jiang does not hang his head when it comes to his humble educational achievement. In fact his degree has been widely viewed as typical of his openness, honesty and integrity — qualities that are contended to be missing in many government officials these days.

Yet Jiang’s promotion, regardless of his educational background, shows that the government is now more in favor of integrity and professional competence than “academic credits”.

More importantly, it sets a precedent that there is more to being a leader than what one shows on paper. In other words, those with “undeserving” degrees are no longer guaranteed a free pass.

In fact, a master’s or doctorate degree from Chinese universities is not admired the way they used to be. The great leap forward in postgraduate education has tarnished its reputation. In some schools, one university professor can be responsible for tutoring up to one or two dozen graduate students, an abnormally high number for universities with a global reputation.

As a result, China, the largest developing country, has not only caught up with, but has left the largest developed country, the US, behind in terms of the number of PhD degrees churned out every year. A total of 259 Chinese universities, plus 140 research institutes and military academies are entitled to grant doctorate degrees, in stark contrast to 253 such bodies in the US.

In applauding the integrity and honesty of the new Suzhou Party secretary, it is also necessary to explore how so many officials are sailing through their posts and obtaining such extravagant degrees.

Actually, a finding like that might just be worth a doctoral dissertation.