China s Rise in Science May Taper Off (preview)

See Inside

World-class status for research excellence comes with a new set of challenges

By Philip G. Altbach and Qi Wang

POTENITAL: China's huge market size makes it stand out from the pack in the Global Competitiveness Index. Image: Sven Laqua and Arno Ghelfi, SOURCE: ?THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS REPORT 2011?2012,? EDITED BY KLAUS SCHWAB. WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, 2011

In Brief

• China's economy has been growing quickly, and so has its research efforts. In a short time, it has become a world leader?a startling achievement.
• The Chinese Academy of Sciences is on a par with some of the best scientific research institutions.
• This rapid rise in research prowess has been concentrated largely at the top, however. Currently a yawning gulf exists between the elite institutions and most of the others.
• China's universities will have to overcome a host of problems, such as inconsistent standards and academic culture, to continue improving.

For two decades now China has been Asia's juggernaut. It builds whole cities from scratch, leads the world in energy construction and has grown its economy by nearly 10 percent a year. Breakneck growth has not been confined to the economy?China has also become a scientific research world power in a remarkably short time.

This article was originally published with the title Can China Keep Rising?.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=e5ce53e7334b206c116206fa6d1c83bb

crystal cathedral sxsw st. patrick s day brandon lloyd brandon lloyd celtic thunder fabrice muamba collapse