Chinese universities need a refined education evaluation system. That's according to a lawmaker who is also the president of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. CGTN reporter Zhou Jiaxin sat down with You Zheng to learn more. 

YOU ZHENG, Deputy to 14th National People's Congress, President, Huazhong University of Science and Technology "The indicators of the education evaluation system need to be a reflection and a guide of China's strategic needs. According to President Xi Jinping, Chinese universities should cultivate all kinds of talents demanded by society to improve China's innovation-driven development. At present, our evaluation system has no regional differentiation.

For example, using the same criteria to assess universities of different types and levels will cause homogeneous competition and excessive concentration on disciplines that meet the standards of the evaluation system.

For instance, in the field of mechanical engineering – with which I am familiar with – Stanford, Berkeley, and MIT have programs tailored to meet their individual needs, and are distinguished from the top competitive disciplines and curriculums in the world.

China is a vast country. There are many differences in the characteristics of universities and their disciplines due to their locations, and they have various development patterns and directions, so it is necessary to refine the evaluation system in different categories. If we have a more rational evaluation system, and if we build universities by category, by region and by city, I think our international influence will improve, and we will establish our own system of first-class universities."

YOU ZHENG, Deputy to 14th National People's Congress, President, Huazhong University of Science and Technology "In recent years, international influence has been reflected not only in talents training for the development of national industry and high technology, but also in our breakthroughs in basic science research. For example, our Precision Gravity Measurement team has measured the most accurate G-value of the gravitational constant to date; Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center has also supported some scientific research at Cambridge and Stanford.

As a major industrial manufacturing country, facing the new pattern of global competition in the future, China must win the battle for the advanced industrial base and modernization of the industrial chain. On one hand, high-level universities have a role to play in strengthening research in basic science and high-tech fields and generating core technologies with independent intellectual property rights. Meanwhile, they also need to cultivate high-level innovative talents to continuously supply new ones into the manufacturing industry. Therefore, it is necessary to make further innovation in the talent cultivation model by combining the training of highly skilled talents in basic disciplines with that of the training elite engineers. I believe we will soon produce world-class and innovative talents in the near future."