Some of China's wealthiest industrialists are spending billions to establish private universities, with the goal of building world-class institutes for research and applied sciences.
Their stated objectives are bold: to directly challenge the top universities globally, attract hundreds of top scientists, and hundreds of thousands of the brightest students. In doing so, they will become global benchmarks for excellence at the highest level.
At first glance it seems unlikely that a new university could soon place among top universities worldwide. But two other privately-funded Chinese universities already are. Geely Automotive Group established a university to train engineers; the company is now the world's 10th largest.
And Westlake University in Hangzhou was founded a mere seven years ago, by top scientists in biology. In key fields, Westlake today is already ahead of global top 100 schools like Texas, University of Sydney, and University of North Carolina.
Closing scene, New Century Global Center, Chengdu, Sichuan
Resources and links:
Geely, Group at a glance
https://zgh.com/overview/?lang=en
Guangming Daily interprets Westlake University from four perspectives: Hello, Westlake University
https://en.westlake.edu.cn/news_events/westlakenews/inthemedia_3402/201912/t20191221_34411.html
Westlake University established in Hangzhou
https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d774d3445444d30457a6333566d54/index.html
South China Morning Post, Why China’s super-rich are spending billions to set up universities
China's Billionaires Are Building Universities to Drive Innovation and Stay Politically Favorable
Beijing Geely University
https://english.beijing.gov.cn/studyinginbeijing/choices/202009/t20200918_2066934.html
China’s Richest Person Made Billions Bottling Pristine Water
https://en.westlake.edu.cn/faculty/yigong-shi.html
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