Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Research Background...................................
1.1.1 211 Project and Chinese Higher Education.............
In a globalized and multi-polarized world, the competition between nations’
comprehensive strength is becoming increasinglyfierce. Innovation has become the
prime driving force of a nation’s economic and social development, and innovation
in knowledge has also become the core element of a nation’s competitiveness.^1
Therefore, under the process of achieving the transition from a populous country to
a powerful human resources country, the Chinese government gradually increases
the expenditure on R&D. In 2003–2013, the total expenditure on R&D increased
from 154 billion RMB to 1184.6 billion RMB, around 6.7 times. In 2014, the total
expenditure on R&D reached 1301.5 billion RMB, taking up 2.05% of
Chinese GDP, or 20% of the world R&D investment, which was only second to the
U.S. (UNESCO 2015 ). Behind the massive increase in the total research funds,
structural imbalance is becoming increasingly serious worries. According to the
newly published UNESCO Science Report 2015, the share of basic research in total
R&D funds was 6% in 2004, while fell to 4.7% in 2013. Although this fact was in
line with international trend, but just as the truth pointed out by UNESCO Science
Report—without basic research, there would be no applied sciences (UNESCO
2015 ).
In basic research, there is no doubt that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are
playing a key role. Concerning this key role played by universities, as Patrick
Aebischer, President ofEcole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland
put it straightly,“the answers to global challenges (energy, water and food security,
urbanization, climate change, etc.) are increasingly dependent on technological
(^1) Speech on Tsinghua University’s 100th Anniversary delivered by Former President HU Jintao.
Jintao ( 2011 ).
©Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017
Y. Hu et al.,Evaluating Research Efficiency of Chinese Universities,
New Frontiers of Educational Research, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4030-6_