Donations by Chinese entrepreneurs to top universities overseas have become a talking point. In July, SOHO China's husband-and-wife team of Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin launched a $100 million fund to help send poor Chinese students to the world's top universities, beginning with a $15 million donation to Harvard University.

More recently, a foundation set up by property tycoon Ronnie Chan Chi-chung and his brother Gerald Chan Lok-chung made a donation of $350 million to Harvard's School of Public Health.

These gifts are made voluntarily in support of a commendable cause. They deserve our praise. But many Chinese people cannot help but ask: why has the money not gone to the Chinese universities that desperately need it?

We should ask: what can the largely government-funded Chinese universities do to attract support? In other words, what kinds of reforms are necessary to ensure universities have access to the "deep pockets" vital for the long-term development of China's higher education? After all, the country's future depends on its bright young minds.

The issue at hand is not why China's tycoons do not see fit to support Chinese universities, it is why Chinese universities do not appear to be suitable candidates for their largesse.

Based on an article from caixin.com.

caixin.com