SINO-FOREIGN COOPERATION IN OPERATING SCHOOLS：THE ...
Since joining the WTO in 2001，China has accelerated its cooperation with foreign partners in operating schools.Urban coastal areas sped up their paces，and central and western rural areas have since started such adventures.Generally speaking，the level of Sino-foreign cooperation in operating schools has improved and the formats of cooperation have become more and more diversified.For example，as a national keynote higher education institute，Xiamen University persists in its open-door policy.It has built-up partnerships with over 150 universities in the United States，England，Japan，France，Canada，Australia，Nether-lands，Philippines，Korea，and Thailand.Most of them are tier I or tier II comprehensive universities of their countries and/or have influential programs or outstanding majo rs or fields of studies.In recent years，in addition to the former inter-universities cooperation，the university has continued to expand its international cooperative education and cultivate working forces to satisfy international standards.It has also expanded its inter-cultural communication through building up overseas Confucius Institutes.The international joint education programs include：matriculation projects，student exchange programs，dual degree programs（one Chinese and one foreign degree），single degree via two or multiple schools projects，joint guidance projects for graduate students and so on.
Flexible and diversified cooperative or exchange programs have provided students with more choices and opportunities，which greatly enriched the models of cooperative education programs as well.At the same time，teaching force development was under an accelerating growth.Xiamen University invited world-famous scholars and foreign experts such as Chen-Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee as honorary professors and/or visiting professors.
In recent years，Xiamen University has sent out hundreds of scholars and teachers each year to conduct cooperative scientific research，to study abroad and/or to attend academic conferences.Since 1980，it has invited thousands of foreign scholars to teach，to lecture or to do research in the university.It has also successfully held hundreds of international and/or regional academic conferences（Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of Xiamen University，2010）.
Although Xiamen University has achieved noticeable merits in introducing and utilizing high-quality resources through cooperative education programs，the problems and challenges that it has to face are also non negligible.And the problems and challenges that Xiamen University faces in the practice of cooperatively operating schools are，in fact，quite typical in the nation due to a lack of a reliable and practical operating mechanism.More specifically，frequently encountered problems and challenges include：（a）Late responses from foreign partners or low efficiency in the communication between the two sides：During the communications，the foreign partner cannot or is unwilling to solve some problems.Some responses did not offer specific measures for improvement.Some even did not give feedback after several inquiries.（b）Lack of a consideration for the international context：Particular accent was overly stressed in the recordings with the textbook，which cannot satisfy students'needs.Another common problem is lack of sufficient contents for training of study-abroad skill.For example，the training materials didn't provide rich enough contents or long enough passages.Many joint operating programs typically did not train students sufficiently for critical thinking skills in academic writings，as well as expository writing and/or argumentative writing skills beyond narrative and descriptive writing skills.（c）Textbook contents are not of the appropriate levels：Some core courses adopted MBA textbooks，which is too hard for high school graduates in China.Partners should choose more introductory or foundational core course textbooks.（d）Course title didn't match teaching contents：for example，finances and budget were taught for the course titled“Financing”，and logistics was taught for“Product Management”.Imprudent translations from Chinese to English lead to inconvenience in course preparation and class schedule.Some courses have repeated contents with the others and class schedule is not appropriate.（e）Students have narrow choices after graduation.Their degrees generally have a rather low level of recognition.Low level of degree recognition has been an embarrassing issue faced by Sino-foreign cooperative education programs.
China is still in an exploring stage in cooperatively operating schools with foreign partners.Therefore，it is very apparent to see problems and/or challenges which affected the quality of education programs in a negative way.The article brought up the following issues and attempted to offer personal views to these issues：How should quality of Sino-foreign cooperative education programs be defineded？On what aspects should it focus on？What are some of the influencing key factors？And how can the quality of such programs be enhanced？All these issues deserve careful and thorough investigations and explorations.The seemingly effective solution to the practical education control issues of these international education programs is to build up a complete education quality control system based on active explorations and sound studies.