Keywords: higher education; Finance; Sustainability; know
China Library Classification Number: F230 Document Identification Number: Part A Number:1673-291x (2012) 24-0088-03.
Clark kerr, an American economics professor, summed up four convergence phenomena in the development of higher education in the world: (1) the demand of nation-states for higher education and the universalist demand of higher education; (2) Committed to educational equality and pursuing excellence; (3) Independent requirements within higher education institutions and professional ethics of teaching staff; (4) The diversification of university mission statement and the correlation between curriculum system and social needs. Under the same trend, "the systematic balance between demand and supply of higher education and the quality assurance of higher education system are universal core issues" [1]. In the practice of educational reform at home and abroad, higher education administrators generally adopt new management methods characterized by perfecting governance structure and strengthening responsibility system to deal with and solve this core problem. In the process of China's reform and opening up and internationalization of higher education, there are similar phenomena and problems. Higher education is increasingly "showing a limited marketization trend under the background of limited government control" [1], and popularization and marketization are the remarkable characteristics of the development of higher education. Popularization is the fundamental reason for the expansion of higher education scale, and the pursuit of balanced development of higher education quality and scale is the inevitable requirement of marketization. Popularization and marketization are both the root of the problem and the way to find a solution.
First, the popularization of higher education continues to develop.
One of the important achievements of education development in New China in the past 60 years is that higher education has achieved a historic leap to the stage of mass development, especially since 1999, the scale of higher education has expanded rapidly under the leadership of the government. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education, there are 65,438+34110,000 students in colleges and universities, 202 1 10,000 students in 2008, 4,062 students in colleges and universities and 4,057 students in 2007 [2]. The Outline of the National Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development Plan (20 10-2020) proposes that by 2020, the gross enrollment rate of higher education in China will reach 40%, and the total number of students will reach 35.5 million. In order to achieve this planning goal, the number of students in this college will increase by 1 10 million in the next decade. The popularization of higher education will continue to develop in depth, and the scale of higher education will continue to grow in a short time.
Second, the trend of "marketization" of higher education is accelerating.
In the past 30 years of reform and development, practical activities such as raising educational funds, sharing educational costs, socialized reform of logistics services, introducing private capital and serving economic and social development in higher education are in the ascendant. "Whether dealing with external competition or internal growth needs, the ability to independently participate in market competition has become an important constraint for the development of higher education institutions." [1] Market economy factors will penetrate into the economic activities of colleges and universities more deeply.
One of the main characteristics of the leap-forward development of higher education is the expansion strategy of loan development. In August 2007, the Social Development Department of the National Development and Reform Commission released the statistics of the central bank: by the end of 2005, the balance of college loans reached 20065438+ billion yuan, and almost all colleges and universities had loans. After 2005, the loan scale of colleges and universities continued to be high, and they were unable to fulfill their debt repayment responsibilities in a short time. Interest expenditure squeezes out the investment in education and teaching, and also hinders the improvement of self-accumulation ability. Colleges and universities need to rely on the market, follow economic laws and market rules, raise construction funds by means of bank loans, social financing, employee fund-raising, school-enterprise cooperation, etc., adopt market-oriented operation methods such as campus replacement and entrusted management to resolve debt risks, attract overseas capital and resources to carry out educational service trade, and rely on academic advantages to carry out social service activities.
Third, the economic responsibilities of colleges and universities are increasingly diversified.
The responsibilities of colleges and universities are constantly expanding, and the goals tend to be diversified. "The external feature of the popularization of higher education is the expansion of the scale of higher education, and the internal feature is the reform of the structure and system of higher education." [3] Colleges and universities should undertake diversified tasks such as training senior professionals, developing science and technology culture and serving the construction of modern society. They should not be divorced from the market economy environment, and need to study and abide by the relationship between supply and demand and the law of value in the market economy. When dealing with the economic relations inside and outside the school, we should properly introduce and use the market competition mechanism, which will inevitably give birth to and promote the diversification of economic responsibilities and the marketization of economic behavior in colleges and universities.
Fourth, the meaning of financial sustainability.
In 2000, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the British Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) put forward the report "Urgent Affairs: Ensuring the Future of Sustainable Development of Higher Education". The report points out that the financial sustainability of colleges and universities is characterized by the appropriate speed of cost recovery and infrastructure (material, human and intellectual) investment, as well as the ability to maintain strategic planning for the future and serve students and other customers. To achieve financial sustainability, we should integrate the four elements of development strategy, sustainable management, investment and risk management, and introduce appropriate management methods and incentive mechanisms.
Key points of development strategy: combine academic development with financial development, integrate strategic planning, pay attention to strategic analysis and research, and scientifically formulate academic development strategy, resource condition construction (investment) strategy, financial development strategy, etc.
The key points of sustainable operation: adopt the complete economic cost accounting model, use resources to generate income, recover economic costs, adopt a planned subsidy policy, and maintain a certain proportion of surplus for investment.
Key points of investment: raise investment funds through multiple channels, pay equal attention to investment in physical facilities and human resources, and conduct professional asset management to provide material conditions for sustainable development.
Key points of risk management: the risks assumed are symmetrical with the expected opportunities and benefits, and a systematic risk assessment and management system is established to warn and control major risks and avoid financial crisis.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) Higher education needs to cultivate and develop financial sustainability.
The government and universities must attach importance to and study the financial sustainability of higher education. At present, there are some problems in higher education, such as the uncoordinated scale and the growth rate of funds, the unbalanced regional supply conditions of funds, the lack of guarantee of funds for infrastructure construction, and the tight financial operation. Bank loans have become the main source of funds for the construction of colleges and universities, and huge debts have caused operational pressure and financial risks. Colleges and universities expect the government to bear the debts caused by scale expansion, and the government expects colleges and universities to improve their financial situation by enhancing their ability to serve economic and social development. To solve these problems, we need to change the development model of higher education in terms of quantity and scale.
With the gradual establishment and improvement of the modern university system with China characteristics characterized by internal governance structure and social participation mechanism, the management function of the government has changed from direct management to indirect management, and the space and rights for universities to run their own schools will be further expanded, and the responsibilities and risks will be further increased. The development strategy, sustainable management, investment and risk management of colleges and universities are inseparable from the cultivation and development of financial sustainability. The main viewpoints and methods of the research results of OECD and HEFCE on financial sustainability can be used in the financial management practice of domestic universities.
1. Cultivating and developing financial sustainability is the requirement of diversification of higher education responsibilities. 1998 promulgated the Higher Education Law, which proposed that "the state should establish a system with financial allocation as the main part and other channels to raise funds for higher education as the supplement". The Outline of the National Medium-and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan (20 10-2020) puts forward that "higher education should implement an investment mechanism of multi-channel financing, such as giving priority to the investment of the organizers, reasonably sharing the training cost by the educated, setting up a fund to accept social donations, etc.", and puts forward that while ensuring the investment in education, it is necessary to set up an advisory Committee on higher education funds to enhance the scientific allocation of funds and strengthen the management of funds. Establish a performance evaluation mechanism for the use of funds. There will be some changes in the investment system of higher education funds: (1) The government is no longer the only subject to hold higher education, and various social organizations can run schools and provide educational services according to law; (2) Public colleges and universities should organize funding sources for the society and specific public (such as educatees and donors), and the tendency of marketization will become more and more obvious, thus increasing the social responsibility and economic responsibility of colleges and universities accordingly; (3) The financing channels are more clear, and colleges and universities are not encouraged to directly raise education funds through debt channels. These changes are the result and future trend of the popularization and marketization of higher education. Ma Luting, a researcher in the Higher Education Research Office of the Education Development Research Center of the Ministry of Education, believes that government finance and individual contributions are the main sources of education funds in China, and the focus of further raising higher education funds in the future is other social inputs other than tuition fees, including social service income obtained by colleges and universities through education and scientific and technological activities, as well as donations and fund-raising income obtained through active fund-raising activities [4].