Recently, a piece of news was published in many media outlets in China saying that the Ministry of Education (“MOE“) announced its termination of cooperation with universities of the U.K., the U.S., Australia and Canada. There are a total of 234 cooperative education institutions (“CEIs“) and cooperative education institutions (“CEPs“) involved.
It is not clear why this news was circulated again last week, but we note that the MOE notice cited in the news is a notice that was published by the MOE in June 2018, with a reference of “Jiao Wai Ting Han [2018] No. 39” (“MOE 2018 Notice“, see link). Also, the name list included in the news is actually the same listed in the MOE 2018 Notice.
We checked with the MOE regarding this news. One MOE official clarified that there has been no new announcement this year. The list included in the MOE 2018 Notice is the latest list that the MOE announced. The official said the MOE has not changed its policies related to Sino-foreign cooperative education activities, and explained that reasons for revoking the school licenses, include: (i) failing to pass the evaluation standards; (ii) poor enrollment and employment; or (iii) voluntary applications by the parties, etc.
The recent news articles serve as a reminder that the MOE has stated that it will strengthen the quality assurance of CEIs/CEPs, to ensure the healthy development of Sino-foreign cooperation education. The MOE has formulated the evaluation rules and will constantly evaluate CEIs/CEPs. It is anticipated that similar lists may be published by the MOE in the future.
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