Similar to Project 985, the significant 2011 Scheme was also established in light of then Chinese President Hu Jintao’s official speech on April 24 of 2011 at Tsinghua University’s centenary ceremony. Many interviewees acknowledged the direct involvement of Tsinghua in this new national policy. In that speech, Hu stated that China needed to actively promote collaborative innovation, hence universities, scientific research institutes and enterprises should be encouraged to establish strategic alliances, cooperate in selected key fields, share resources and apply their research outcomes. Building on the leader’s directive, the MoE and MoF developed the ‘2011 Scheme’ or ‘Plan 2011’ (or ‘Collaborative Innovation Plan’, xietong
chuangxin jihua 协同创新计划) in mid-2012, which offers significant government funding for the successful applicants. The program is open to universities as primary project team leaders and implementers. They are required to explore creative ways to establish ‘collaborative innovation centres’ with other universities, scientific research institutes, industrial enterprises, local governments and international research teams and organisations. The cycle of the 2011 Scheme is four years, divided into three phases including initial development, assessment and approval, and the performance evaluation. If approved, the ‘collaborative innovation centres’ will receive special supporting funds from the central government (MoE, 2012b). Unlike Project 211 and Project 985 that are based on the government’s funding pre-allocation, the 2011 Scheme runs merit-based, competitive selections for joint research applications. The 2011 Scheme is often seen as an extension of Project 211 and Project 985 in a different form and with varied focuses, reflecting the changing needs of different development periods of China's higher education. Project 211 and Project 985 focus on comprehensive investment and development at a university level, such as the academic disciplines and research fields, talent training, and internal development of universities. The 2011 Scheme focuses on specific, theme-based collaborative innovation centres (xietong chuangxin pingtai 协同创新平台) on a much smaller scale (L. Xu, 2014a).
‘Building new-type think tanks’ at research universities
In April and November 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the importance of ‘building modern think tanks (xinxing zhiku 新型智库) with Chinese characteristics’ as a national strategy at the CPC meetings (CPC News, 2014). His message signals that stronger critical thinking and a rational, scientific approach is needed to support the leadership as it has faced complex social, economic and environmental challenges; Beijing’s needs for policy support from think tanks will increase. As a result of his directive, the MoE released a new plan in February 2014 (MoE, 2014d) to boost the role of universities in advising the government on public policies, including setting up special university-based policy centres and think tanks to carry out research for the policymaking of the central organs. This means that university research departments, particularly in the social sciences, could gear some research more closely to the government’s decision-making processes. The state has increased its support to build its think tanks at Chinese research universities, and valued their strengths in human resources, strong research capacity across disciplines, and active international collaboration (MoE, 2014a).
Since Xi's April 2013 statement, more new think tanks based at research universities have emerged. Tsinghua, for instance, established a think tank and research institute of national governance in September 2014 to study China’s future development policies. Similarly, Nanjing University set up a national think tank on South China Sea Studies, and Fudan University established the Centre for China Development Model Research, which focuses on social and economic policies.
Government officials and decision-makers have increasingly consulted with think tanks and become more open to their research and suggestions. According to Beijing Review (Tang, 2014), faculty members of the National School of Development at PKU are invited to participate in policy discussions before almost every major reform on topics including state- owned enterprises, the stock market, the land system and the medical care system, as well as having been consulted on issues concerning rural development. Similarly, since the beginning of 2002, consultants of the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University have been received by several state leaders. Many of their suggestions have been adopted by the government. Professor Hu Angang, Director of the Center for China Studies of Tsinghua University, was invited to participate in the drafting of China's five-year plans for socio- economic development several times. He said (Tang, 2014):
As think tanks, higher learning institutions could exert significant impacts on decision- makers and society in general through unique ideas and opinions. They are in greater
demand than ever before and embracing this historic opportunity to make a bigger contribution to society.
He revealed that during the drafting of the 12th Five-year Plan (20112015), higher learning institutions undertook more than half of the 80 strategic research programs. Besides
conducting research projects and writing papers delivered to top leaders, research fellows of these think tanks are invited to give lectures at learning sessions of the members of Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee (Tang, 2014).I will further discuss university-based think tanks later in the chapter.