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China Today
Following on the World Bank’s 2001 publication, China and the Knowledge Economy: Seizing the 21st Century, this book is another exceptional product I would like to recommend to the Chinese audience. It represents three years of hard work by the authors in collaboration with Chinese experts, and the analysis and recommendations are extremely relevant for China.
Today, many high-income countries are reshaping their human resource development strategies. In the face of increasingly fierce international competition, these countries are setting up lifelong learning systems as an essential national policy for maintaining their global competitive advantage. Although China has a vast population, it still lacks sufficient human talent. One of the country’s main strategies is therefore to develop such talent by turning the ostensible burden of its large population into a strategic advantage by changing its economic growth model from a resource-intensive one to a knowledge-intensive one. The essence of lifelong learning is to provide opportunities for people to learn throughout their lives. The Chinese culture has a tradition of placing a high premium on learning and on continuing education. An ancient proverb says “Never stop learning as long as you live.” This was true in the past, when knowledge grew slowly and life spans were short, and it is even more relevant today when science and technology make advances on a daily basis and people live twice as long as they did a thousand years ago. To establish and effective life long learning system China needs to expand preschool education, universalize primary education, strengthen secondary education, diversify higher education, and improve the labor training market to provide more learning opportunities. China is at a stage of development where it is experiencing rapid economic structural change. Over the last 30 years, about half of rural laborers have transferred into nonagricultural sectors, and about half have moved to the cities. This unprecedented population shift has driven China’s fast-paced economic growth. However, the ensuing rapid industrialization and increased demand for skilled laborers requires an effective education and training system to quickly enhance the skills level of rural laborers, enabling them to benefit from wage increases, improved welfare, and full employment. On-the-job learning has become an important channel for China's more than 700 million workers to absorb new knowledge and acquire the necessary skills. At the same time, the rapid transformation of the economic structure has increased structural unemployment, making training a prerequisite for the unemployed to find new jobs; and, with deepening reforms in the public sector, more government workers will be laid off and will need to be retrained. In addition to formal education, this will require a multifaceted continuing education and training system; an effective skills assessment and accreditation system; and deployment of modern information technology to expand training opportunities. 
Emerging Issues
Although the overall labor supply in China is still larger than the demand, there is an emerging issue around the structural undersupply of labor. Even though China has much lower tertiary enrollment rates than do high-income countries, many college graduates cannot find jobs because of a serious mismatch between school education and social and economic demand. Formal education falls short of the requirements of a lifelong learning system in terms of teaching methods, curriculum, and pedagogies, and needs to be adjusted to respond to the new demands of economic and social development.
Nonformal education (vocational education and training) faces similar problems. Although there are numerous training programs and “certificate mills,” their fees and quality are not regulated; and a serious shortage exists of low-cost, high-quality training options for rural laborers and laid-off workers. A large number of rural surplus laborers, laid-off urban dwellers, and other unemployed people are unable to secure employment or re-employment through existing training programs. In addition, learning facilities and methods are out of date, and modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) need to be further harnessed. International experience shows that ICTs can expand learning channels at lower cost and with greater convenience, thereby better addressing the requirements of lifelong learning. The government of China is developing satellite and broadband-based distance learning to reduce education costs, improve learning efficiency, and provide learning opportunities for poor remote regions.
Building a Lifelong Learning System and a Learning Society
China still has a long way to go in building a lifelong learning system and a learning society. The main problem is the serious shortage of investment in education and training. The government cannot bear all the costs of financing the system; and the shortage of resources has constrained the improvement in education level of the whole population. Another significant challenge in establishing a lifelong learning system is the lack of nationwide consensus on its importance and urgency. The goal of building a lifelong learning society can be achieved only if there is a concerted effort by all stakeholders, including the various levels of governments and education authorities. This will require a more conducive environment - an open system that will encourage individuals and society to invest in education and training. The role of government needs to shift from that of key decision maker and sole provider of education and training to that of system architect, rulemaker, and promoter. The barriers that inhibit private capital from entering the education and training fields need to be lowered, while at the same time strengthening education and training by implementing an effective system of standards, quality assurance, auditing, and accreditation. This means setting up a high-quality system of information on the changing education and skill needs of the economy and on the quality of different education and training providers. It also requires establishing appropriate mechanisms to finance education and training, including the development of an effective student loan market.
Building a lifelong learning system is a cross-sectoral undertaking that entails integrated planning, coordination, and management. Currently, China lacks a unified and high-level authority to move the agenda forward. Relevant functions are dispersed among different ministries, such as education, labor, personnel, and agriculture. The lack of unified planning and coordination means that education and training resources cannot be shared or integrated, and limited social resources cannot be fully utilized. It is imperative to establish a high-level leading body to coordinate and integrate resources and ensure the implementation of the lifelong learning system. The main functions of such a body would include coordinating the lifelong learning units of the various educational institutions, private enterprises, nongovernmental organizations, social organizations, and local communities to improve their interaction and cooperation so that resources can be better utilized; organizing lifelong learning awareness-raising campaigns; setting up learning certification centers to assess learning and training results and issue relevant certificates; and researching and formulating regulations and laws on lifelong learning so that the lifelong learning activities can be carried out in an orderly fashion and be protected by legislation. Given the many daunting challenges faced by China in leveraging its human resources, I believe that the analysis, examples and suggestions made in this report provide a very useful framework and some guidance to build an effective lifelong learning system in China for the 21st century.
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