Editor's Note:

Shenzhen University, located in Shenzhen, China's first special economic zone, has become well known for its reforms in many areas of campus life and study.

The following is an interview by the Economic Observer newspaper (EO) with Luo Zhengqi (Luo), former vice president of Shenzhen University, on the founding and management of Shenzhen University.

EO: Tell us about the foundation of Shenzhen University in 1983.

Luo: A group of famous teachers from Peking University, Tsinghua University and other prestigious institutions were transferred to Shenzhen University to serve as deans. The first president of Shenzhen University was Zhang Wen, former Tsinghua University vice president.

I was the deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Tsinghua University then, and transferred to Shenzhen to serve as the secretary of Party Committee and executive vice president of the new university.

Shenzhen University was only a piece of wasteland when it was just established.

Liang Xiang, then mayor of Shenzhen, pointed at a map and told me, "We have one square kilometer of land. You make a plan and figure out how much money you need.

We are still poor, so please be practical and realistic and save money as much as possible. We decided to take a bank loan.

The university must be established even if we have to sell pants! The government has spent money and has appropriated land to invite you to produce talented people."

EO: You famously said that "the library should be the heart of a university, not the dean's office."

Luo : Yes, of course. When we planned Shenzhen University, we put the library at the top priority, which is the centre of the university.

The library is the largest and highest building, and is the building teachers and students visit most.

The library is open all year round, and doesn't close till 12 pm. Many teachers and students study there till midnight, so it really serves as the heart of the university.

We also declare that our university is here to serve the students first and foremost.

The student dormitories are very close to the academic area, so students can get to the library from their homes in only one or two minutes. Given we are in hot and rainy South China, this is very important.

EO: How has your university innovated in terms of student employment?

Luo: Our university encourages students to be self-reliant, both in their lives and their careers. Somebody who cannot stand by himself is far from realizing his ideals.

We abolished aid grants and introduced scholarships instead. We abolished guaranteed job assignments and adopted career guidance, encouraging two-way selection between employers and students.

We also adopted a large-scale part-work and part-study system. We brought in a competitive system, so that students have to compete for scholarships, part-time work, employment, and so on.

We employ only a few temporary workers in our university. Most of the positions are filled by students.

Every leader, professor and associate professor has a student secretary, so that secretaries are simply secretaries, who can only help you do some drafting work, not drafting reports, or writing papers for you.

I had six student secretaries myself, and they took turns to work. So it would not delay their study, but gave them some work experience.

EO: You used to say that we should establish a new university, rather than establish an old one to reform. Shenzhen University has adopted many new policies, but it seems that many other universities still stick to old ones.

Luo: Not me, but Zou Erkang, the deputy secretary of municipal Party committee of Shenzhen, said this. Asking the same requirement to all the students means that no one stands out and no one lags behind.

The consequence is everybody lags behind. It is a matter of motivation.

There were 1,070 universities then. I compared it to a marathon, in which all of these took part and Shenzhen University is the last participant.

Even if we ran the fastest, it is impossible for us to be the frontrunner. Therefore, Shenzhen University has to choose another way, in which we are very likely to be the champion.

We are not able to be the all-round champion, but we are entirely able to be champions in some individual events. We've shown that over time.

EO: I came across an article written by a Shenzhen University graduate lately. He said all books in the campus library are open for borrowing, including Hong Kong and overseas publications. There're no gate keepers at dormitory. Compulsory courses only make up 50 percent of all courses, for the rest, students can choose freely. It seems that Shenzhen University is indeed different from others.

Luo: What we aim to create is an atmosphere in which students can study and communicate freely. I've always believed that there should be no restriction on learning.

In Shenzhen University we use the credit system. We encourage student self-discipline; the school only offers academic guidance.

EO: Is it true that unlike other colleges, Shenzhen University never arranges jobs for graduates?

Luo: Most of the first batch of teachers here came from the top universities all over China. Not only did they bring their passion to our school, but also their dreams.

Professor Le Daiyun of Chinese Department is such a character. She asked the first graduates in 1988 to learn more practical skills, such as driving, in their spare time.

She also changed the curriculum of the senior students, introducing English courses to make them more competitive.

We had announced that we wouldn't let the country arrange jobs for our graduates.

When the first batch of students graduated, we were very nervous and didn't know whether the policy of not arranging jobs for graduates would work.

I took a team to the Chinese University of Hong Kong and asked them to teach us on students' job hunting and dressing and communicating skills.

One student failed many times and she lost confidence in herself. Our teachers later found the reason was she didn't know how to smile. So they taught her to smile, and then she succeeded.

Only when teachers look on students as their children will students respect them.

EO: Do you hear a lot of stories from other universities?

Luo: One party secretary told me there is a severe problem with Chinese universities.

In the past, many good universities have many stories about famous teachers.But now there are none.

When the party secretary was in the US, he visited graduates from China's famous universities and asked them who their most impressive teachers were.

No one could tell him any names. He said that with no stories of great teachers, the universities were doomed to fail.