By Pan Yan

Located 30 kilometers west of Beijing and home to a large concentration of privately run universities, Oriental University City, Langfang, Hebei Province welcomes students from all over the country every September to begin a new phase of their lives.

However, this year the 14 colleges there are suffering from their lowest enrollment numbers yet with only 30,000 students, half the number of previous years, forcing some of them to close their doors. And this is representative of a trend occurring all over China.

"Few private schools in Beijing this year reached 60 percent of previous years. Some only are around 50 percent, while most are not able to even achieve that," said Ji Mingming, vice-chairman of the Chinese Association for Non-government Education.

Ji explained that in Northeast China's Shaanxi Province, another large private college cluster, the situation is even worse; most schools are at 20 to 30 percent recruitment as compared with last year.

"I have been recruiting students for 10 years and it has been never this difficult," said Tang Zhiqiang, vice president of Beijing University of Finance and Economics, a private institution located in Oriental University City.

Shocking stats

The main target demographic for private university recruiting consists of students with low scores on the nation-wide college entrance exam (gaokao). Failing to place in government-run universities, which are generally considered more prestigious, students and their families turn to private institutions as an option, most of which have no gaokao score requirements.

Last year, 10.5 million participated in the gaokao. In accordance with China's expanded college admission quota, 5.99 million were admitted, leaving a pool of 4.51 million to be picked up by privately run colleges.

But this year saw a drop in test takers while admission numbers ballooned; only 10.2 million tested for placement as the quota increased to 6.29 million students.

As a result, the pool of unplaced students reduced by 600,000, a serious blow to private institutions.

Due to the poor quality of education in rural areas, more often students from the countryside fail the gaokao, who in turn make up most of the student body in private colleges.

"Most of our students come from counties, villages, and towns with their parents away working in cities to support their studies. It costs about 50,000 yuan ($7,323) for a student to study at a school in Oriental University City for three years, which is not at all cheap to a rural family," Tang said.

The global financial crisis has also had a compounding influence on decreasing recruitment numbers.

"As the crisis hit, many parents lost their jobs and returned home. Also, the crisis made job-hunting even more difficult for grads. Therefore, many students either cannot afford to go to university or simply have lost faith in a college education, which doesn't guarantee a job."

Change comes from within

But it is the lack of faculty credibility and overall poor reputations of the schools themselves that deter many parents from sending their children to private institutions.

"The goal of some schools is not to provide a good education, but to make money. In order to reduce overhead, some hire grad students to work as part-time teachers rather than professors. Without quality faculty, private institutions are unlikely to attract students," Tang said.

On September 15, sina.com reported that following a mass of student complaints, a private university in Chongqing went bankrupt after only eight days of classes as waves of parents demanded refunds of tuition fees paid. Following an investigation by the local education bureau, the institution was found as not qualified to run as a school.

In July, Beijing Municipal Commission of Education publicly criticized 25 private education organizations for distributing "fake and unethical promotional materials."

"Some private universities, in order to recruit more students, slander their competitors with fake and exaggerated propaganda. This tarnishes the image of the education industry while loses the trust of parents and students," Tang said.

Future positive

Although the situation does not allow for much optimism, Ji still feels positive about the future of China's private institutions.

According to Ji, at present the overall percentage of students continuing on to university is 23.3 percent, far lower than the 70 percent of most first-world nations, and even lower than other developing countries such as Brazil and Mexico.

The country's aim is to improve the percentage to 40 percent by 2020. In order to achieve that number, a nearly 6 trillion yuan ($878.61 billion) investment is required. The Chinese government plans to invest 4 trillion yuan ($585.95 billion) with the rest coming from other sources, thus providing a platform for private education.

"In 30 years, private education has made great contributions to education, promoting equality and improving the overall strength of higher education system. We can't deny the whole industry because of temporary obstacles."

As to the problem of low teaching quality and unregulated operation of private institutions, Ji said, "We have now entered a ‘survival of the fittest' period, when schools are forced to change from relying on advertising to quality teaching and a solid reputation."

"Government's support is especially significant in providing a level playing field. If the government rewards schools for excellence, it will encourage their development and strengthen people's confidence."

Ji also suggests that colleges should design their courses based on market demand, targeting what public schools fail to provide and offer students a more diversified education.

"Private institutions in China still have a long way to go, but we have to bear in mind that most of the world's top universities are privately run."