Tang Min: the father Of China's university expansion

To many people, Tang Min is known as "Father of China's expansion of university enrollment." Also, he's known as the one who first introduced massive online open classes or MOOC into the country and the one who initiated an entrepreneur incubating course called Start-up Café in Chinese universities. Through these, he was able to influence and help shape China's educational and economic development.

In my eyes, expansion of university enrollment, MOOC and Start-up Café combined is a career trilogy Tang Min has written so far. Book one tells us how he came up with the idea of enrollment expansion, how he made this proposal to the government, and got it made into an important policy that has changed the lives of millions of Chinese people.

Still a bit reluctant to accept the nickname of "Father of China's university expansion", Tang Min was proud to admit that the policy was his concoction. It WAS JUST a simple three-page letter he and his wife Zuo Xiaolei composed, signed, and sent to the then Premier Zhu Rongji. It was adopted by the government, then expanded to universities, and subsequently mushroomed all over the country.

New opportunities are inevitably coupled with new problems. People welcomed a lowered threshold for entering colleges, but loathed the idea of having to pay tuition fees. They were happy that their children eventually were able to fulfill the dream of becoming a high class intellectual, but unhappy when reality did not meet their expectations of good incomes and decent jobs. Plus, the rule of scarcity and that of abundance have to play their due roles. Scarcity increases value and abundance reduces it. People were simply not happy about the hard-earned, paid-for, but devalued diplomas.

Before the expansion policy was adopted in 1998, university education in China had been free but not available to the majority of population, the masses. At that time, a college graduate was revered and envied by people because they were cherished talents. Serving as the back bone intellectuals in factories and work units, and they held high social status and got good income. Because of Tang Min's proposal, China started to expand university enrollment and charge tuition fees on students, abruptly ending an era of Russian style free university education for those so-called chosen minorities or the elite class. China thus entered into an era of mass education. Tang Min was brought under the lime light of both praises and criticisms. When asked about how he responded to criticisms, Tang Min explained that at that time it was simply not right for the Chinese people to pay for their children's primary and middle school education but be exempt from paying for university education. Yes, university education was free, but it only benefited a very small group of people. He believes that basic education should be made compulsorily free of charge, since it is beneficial to everyone, while high education should not be free but benefit more people. In terms of poor families' unaffordability of tuitions fees, Tang Min placed hope on a market mechanism. He hoped poor students could have accessibility to allowances, subsidies, scholarships and bank loans. But that didn't go as he had expected. At the earlier stage of reform, China's market was not mature; banks were reluctant to take risks. Complaints kept pouring in and very little could be done. Tang Min smiled and said, "See, problems can only be solved along with the further deepening of the country's economic reform. The policy is a good one. Just allow time, the seemingly unfixable problems will be fixed eventually."

Yes, student bank loan has become a common practice today. And China has lifted so many people out of poverty. Reassessing expansion policy today, Tang Min held his stance firm and pointed out that due to that policy, we now have a better quality work force, improved living standards, and enhanced the overall economic power of the country. To my surprise, as Tang Min revealed how the policy was first formed in his mind, I learnt that initially his real intention was not about poverty alleviation and education equality. As an economist, all he was thinking about then was to find a way to stimulate China's economy and save it from jumping on the "bandwagon" of the intimidating Asian financial crisis. He said, in economic recession, people held their purses tight and was extremely cautious about spending. The Chinese government needed a "key" to pry open people's safety box and make them willing to take out cash and consume. Tang Min and his wife were sharp enough to sense the demand and quick enough to come up with an effective solution. This realization came to him on the notion that Chinese people have believed in education since Confucius' time and they would never say "no" to spending money on education. The University expansion policy had helped China steered away from the pitfall of the Asian economic crisis and the Chinese economy survived and thrived since then. Although this policy was successful for the economy, it is remembered as a very significant but controversial move of educational reform even to this day! "So, you cared only about GDP numbers, not people's wellbeing, not education?" I challenged him. "Yes, and no!" Tang Min replied, "I intended to fix the economy but eventually it's the people who have benefited from the policy. It's about people's wellbeing after all."

I have to agree with him. In book one of his trilogy, Tang Min acted as an economist and harvested as an economist turned educator, and won himself the tile of "Father of China's university enrollment".

While being happy to see more students on campuses, uneven distribution of educational resources has always been Tang Min's catalyst. The huge disparity in educational development among different regions in the country pushed him to act again. When Internet technology matured to have made massive online open classes, or MOOC, possible in developed nations, Tang Min jumped to act again. He wanted to make it available for Chinese students in poor areas as well. Why not start from the cities, which could be far easier, many people wondered. The answer lies in what Tang Min has always believed in: he'd rather give water to the thirsty than adding the icing of a cake for others. While working in the ADB, Tang Min had chances to deal with various governments in Asia and tailor make policy proposals to solve problems for the local people. Therefore, he is aware of the problems of the poor and loves to find solutions for them. He also knows how to cooperate with governments in order to make things happen. Due to his efforts, MOOC has become a reality and been promoted widely in the country. Numerous schools in dozens of underdeveloped regions have benefited from it. Because of MOOC, teachers and students are able to enjoy the best classes delivered by the best teachers and are able to share quality educational resources with the country's top notch schools. As a result, more and more rural students are able to pass Gaokao and enter their dream universities.

Tang Min is happy to see the result. He recalled at the age of 18 when he was assigned his first job to teach math in high school, without receiving any training, how he sat in a senior math teacher's class to copy his teaching and then taught his own students the next day. Later, he outgrew that teacher, took part in Gaokao together with his own students in the year 1977, and was enrolled by Wuhan University. He said this unforgettable experience perhaps is the driving force behind his decision to introduce MOOC in the country. He wants people to have similar opportunities to grow like himself. If there is a will, there is a way. Chinese people never lack the will to learn and Tang Min is there to provide people a way. And MOOC is the way, the best and least costly way available to many disadvantaged people in the country.

In book two of his trilogy, Tang Min, as an economist, went back into his old shoes of a teacher and worked hard to make things happen as an educator.

In books one and two, Tang Min helped to increase learning opportunities and narrow educational inequality for people. In book three of his career trilogy, he was busy creating opportunities for students to turn what they learn into productivity. Start-up Café is a course invented by Tang Min to encourage entrepreneurship. Through this course, students are able to learn, interact with successful business people and professors, and grow into business leaders to contribute greatly to the country's development.

When asked whether he himself has had any interest in business, he shared with me a rather interesting story. 40 decades ago, China was still under a planned economy. Activities of trade and business were still despised by people as "tails" of capitalism that needed to be cut off. When Tang Min entered college, though China had already started to reform and open up, old ways of thinking were still deeply rooted in people's mind. I was so surprised to learn that Wuhan University was so avant-garde by actually allowing Tang Min and his student union peers to buy magazines and rent them out to students by charging them two cents for a day's reading. The University went even further to provide the initial investment for students to buy a luxurious item, such as a washing machine, to allow students to charge for laundry. "Like father, like son; like university, like student." This seed of entrepreneurship has now grown from magazine rentals into a Start-up Café course which has helped to incubate more and more business talents for the country's economic development.

Perhaps it is his early experience of a math teacher, his innovative taste of making money out of renting magazines, and his job in the ADB that has worked together to turn Tang Min into what he is today. From a math major student, to an established economist, to an advisor of economic policies for the government, and eventually a successful "amateur" educator as he called himself, Tang Min has succeeded in elevating himself into a pragmatic problem solver. He is an economist by profession, an educator in the heart and a policy designer in true value. Highly perceptive of what's going on in the country and in the world, he is able to notice the latest trends in the market, catch up with the front waves of reform and innovation, make the best use of the latest technology available, and achieve what he wants to achieve. At the age of 65, he has set new targets for himself. They include promotion of life long education, old age care personnel training, on the job training for small online business owners, and help for returning migrant workers to startup businesses in home towns. And this time he is ready to embrace AI technology to accomplish these assignments.

Having finished the trilogy and at the end of the interview, I have now conjured up a sketch of Tang Min. He is a man who cares only about three things: employment, education and innovation. He attributes China's economic success over the past four decades to education. He believes education will play an even greater role in China's future development. We will continue to see this unstoppable problem solver solving problems in the sectors of education and development. Good luck! And thank you!