3.3 Cooperation Among HEIs in Southwest Shanghai
The Southwest Shanghai Intercollegiate Education Association was founded in August 1994. Its purpose is to bring into play the teaching and research advantages of each member HEI, share resources and strengths, broaden schooling channels, and improve the level of education.13 At present, there are 14 HEI members, including Shanghai Jiao Tong University, East China Normal University, etc.
The Association established a system of “cross-institution course selection and credit transfer” in 2004, and promulgated Southwest Shanghai Intercollegiate Education Provisional Regulations on Cross-Institution Postgraduate Courses and Southwest Shanghai Intercollegiate Education Provisional Regulations on Studying Cross-Institution Optional Courses. Credits earned from cross-institution optional courses are counted towards the student's credits for public optional courses and total credits. They are mutually recognized by all HEIs in the Association.
Full-time undergraduate students of the HEIs in the Southwest Shanghai can choose to study cross-institution optional courses according to their own needs. These optional courses are charged by credit and the accounts are settled between schools. Cross-institution optional courses are generally offered for a single term, and each course is assigned a total of 32 class hours and carries two credits. The teaching period lasts 12 weeks (including time for examination), and classes are usually arranged on Wednesday evening.14
Based on 2010 data, cross-institution minors in the Southwest Shanghai have developed considerably and are relatively influential. Currently there are 11 HEIs offering minors, a cumulative total of 11,152 students have participated in studying cross-institution minors, and 3,019 students have earned bachelor’s degrees from cross-institution minors.15
III. Implementation models of credit transfer in China
A summary of the above cases shows that implementation models of credit transfer in higher education in China mainly include cross-institution course selection, offering minors for joint student cultivation, student exchange and course exemption. Each model has its own characteristics and advantages.
1. Cross-institution course selection
Cross-institution course selection is a major form of intercollegiate credit transfer among HEIs in China. It means that students of one school are sent to learn corresponding optional courses in another cooperative school, and credits for the course are recognized in both schools. The cooperative HEIs usually select distinctive courses representing their specialties and make them open to all students in the cooperative HEI system. The optional courses can be existing courses or newly established courses.
Cross-institution course selection is a relatively easy way to implement credit transfer. Thus, most of the alliances for credit transfer in China begin with cross-institution course selection.
With the advancement of information technology in education, many credit transfer alliances also provide students with an online course selection system to facilitate their cross-institution course selection.
2. Offering minors for joint student cultivation
Offering minors for joint student cultivation is a rather advanced form of implementing credit transfer in China. Building on the basis of cross-institution course selection, members of an alliance each offer corresponding courses to jointly establish minor programmes, providing the students with diversified learning opportunities. Degree certificates for minors are jointly issued by the cooperative institutions.
Offering minors is more complicated than cross-institution course selection as it is no longer a matter of offering a few isolated courses. Instead, it requires designing a programme plan. Whether it is an existing programme or a new programme, it must be designed and developed in conjunction with cooperative partners to pool together respective advantages and create minor programmes that will attract students.
Currently there are two ways to offer minors. One way is for a single school to independently offer a minor programme for students of cooperative HEIs to study, and the credits are mutually recognized. The other way is for multiple schools to jointly establish a minor programme for students of the cooperative HEIs to study, and the credits are recognized by all. The former is similar to major sharing among different institutions and the latter is similar to joint construction of majors. Both aim to meet the students’ needs for diversified learning.
3. Intercollegiate student exchange
Intercollegiate student exchange is also a major form of credit transfer in higher education in China. It refers to sending students of one school to another school for "exchange study" based on the level and willingness of the students. The courses they study and the scores and credits they receive are recognized by both schools.16 Intercollegiate student exchange includes exchange of undergraduates, master's degree candidates and doctoral candidates. It includes not only student exchange within domestic HEIs but also international (overseas) exchange. The timespan for intercollegiate exchange study is generally one term or one academic year.17 Credit transfer in the form of intercollegiate exchange is usually specified in an agreement of intercollegiate exchange and cooperation to ensure that the credits earned by the students are recognized.
Intercollegiate student exchange is an attempt to reform existing models of talent cultivation during the transition of higher education from elite education to mass education within the framework of establishing and improving China's socialist market economic system. China's HEIs, especially the top universities, initiated exploration of talent cultivation through student exchange at the beginning of this century and achieved encouraging results, setting a positive example for its popularization at conventional HEIs nationwide. The following are a few examples. In 2004, the six HEIs of Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Southeast University, Zhejiang University of Technology, and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University launched a “student exchange programme of HEIs in the Yangtze River Delta”. In 2006, The Agreement on Cooperative Cultivation of Undergraduates Between Central South University and Shandong University was signed, arranging for each university to dispatch undergraduate students to the other university's top programmes for a one-year exchange. Another large-scale cooperation was launched in October 2009 by nine of the first “Project 985” HEIs. They are Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanjing University, University of Science and Technology of China, and Xi’an Jiaotong University. They together signed The Agreement on First Class University Talent Cultivation Cooperation and Exchange, agreeing to mutually recognize the scores and credits of exchange students and jointly cultivate young scholars, etc.18 The nine HEIs will collaborate to promote the exchange of undergraduate students and the cultivation of postgraduate students. At the undergraduate level, the nine universities will practice credit transfer and second-campus exchange study, which means that exchange students can study at another university and the scores and credits they receive are recognized by all nine universities. At the postgraduate level, they will establish a discipline cultivation platform open to all postgraduate students of the 9 universities. Those approved can conduct visiting research at another university for half a year or longer, and the course scores and credits they receive are likewise mutually recognized.19 The Teaching Federation of Nanjing Xianlin University Park also cultivates students through exchange study, and “exchange students” who submit an application and get approval can choose to study for one or more terms at any of the HEIs in the federation. The course scores and credits obtained during the exchange period are recognized by all HEIs in the federation, and the exchange students are included in a talent cultivation plan in line with their majors. This kind of talent cultivation model enables HEIs to complement each other’s advantages and share resources. It also broadens students' horizons, enriches their academic experiences and facilitates the mobility of talented persons.
Intercollegiate student exchange is different from cross-institution course selection. The former means that students go from their registered university to another non-registered university to study and are required to stay at the non-registered university during the period of exchange, which is generally measured by time, such as half a year or one year. The latter means that students elect to study courses of a non-registered university, but they are not required to stay at that university during their study, which is generally measured by courses, such as one or several courses.
4. Course exemption
Course exemption means that before a student completes the study of a certain course as planned in his major programme, he has already studied a related course or obtained a related certificate, indicating that he already possesses the knowledge and abilities targeted by the course. Therefore, the student can receive credits for the course without restudying the course. Course exemption is widely practiced in higher education in China, especially in the field of adult education. Since adult learners often have completed certain learning activities before participating in continuing education, they can be exempted from restudying certain courses, saving time and money for both the learners and the educational institutions. For example, those who have received postgraduate, undergraduate or associate degree education at various HEIs in the national education system and are now studying for a second higher diploma at a radio and TV university can be exempted from a course if another course studied at the original school (valid within 6 years) meets the requirements for the course in the present teaching plan. The student can get the corresponding credits without taking the course or the examination. For public foundation courses (valid within 15 years), learners with education at or above the vocational school level (national education system recognized by the state) for the relevant discipline are exempted from the study and examination of the course, and they can directly get the corresponding credits.20