Chinese Academy of Sciences (PDF) - low res version

CREDIT: PHOTOS BY RICKY WONG
Institute of Botany, CAS Guo Huadong
students, USTC is small compared to other top Chinese universities; for
its undergraduate program, it admits only students who score in the top
0.3%–0.5% on China’s college entrance examination. Seventy percent of
those undergraduates later go on to graduate school, many at elite institutions
in China and abroad. USTC Vice President Chen Chusheng compares
the university’s ambition to the nearby mountain Huangshan, said to be the
most beautiful in China: “We don’t want to be the tallest one or the biggest
one, but we want to be the best one.”
Part of being the best is maintaining a tradition in which all professors
teach undergraduates and welcome them into their labs, Chen says. This
tradition began when USTC was founded in the 1950s by some of the leading
lights in Chinese science, who then taught at the university. Similarly, he
says, being part of the CAS system makes the university less hierarchical
than others in China. “In science everyone is equal, so our students can
always challenge the professors, or professors can challenge the president
of the university,” he says. Yao Yuxi, a sophomore physics student at USTC,
agrees. “Almost every one of us have the opportunity to get into a lab if
we want to be a part of it, and they will accept us, one hundred percent,”
he says.
As for the graduate students, though, Chen concedes that the highest
achievers often prefer to go abroad rather than get a Ph.D. at USTC or
another Chinese university. “This is the key factor limiting the quality of research
nationwide, not just this university,” he says. “But as time goes by,
more of the best students are choosing to stay in China for their Ph.D. studies.”
Last year, two of USTC’s top five graduating physics majors stayed
at USTC for their graduate work. Chen is clear that he thinks overseas
experience is very valuable, however, and that his goal is not to see all of the
university’s best undergraduates stay on at USTC through graduate school.
“We would like a more balanced situation,” he says.
Consultation
In addition to its research and educational functions, CAS serves as China’s
most elite scientific honorary society, with about 700 members chosen on
the basis of their exceptional research records.
Membership in CAS confers much more than a plaque on the office wall.
“People say it’s an honor, and that’s true, but actually it’s a duty,” says Guo
Huadong, director general of CEODE, who became a member late last
year. “Becoming a CAS academician means, at my age, that it’s my task to
train the new generation… it means you should work hard.”
More concretely, becoming a CAS member often puts a scientist on the
fast track to an administrative position. It also places him or her in one of
CAS’s six Academic Divisions, which act as think tanks that advise policymakers
on scientific, economic, and social issues. During the 2003 SARS
outbreak, for example, the Academic Divisions gave advice on building response
systems, coping with panic, and treating patients, says CAS’s Lü.
University of Science and Technology
of China
CAS members can propose policy report
topics, and if their proposals are accepted,
they will receive funds to complete research
and write the reports. Or they can write a
letter directly to top policymakers. “They
have a very special channel to the central
government,” explains Lü. CAS provides
similar consultation services to local and
provincial governments.
So what is the common thread tying together
CAS’s many functions
and long, disparate
history? As Lü says, “CAS
is a locomotive driving force
for science and technology
development in China.” And
as the academy continues
to build world-class facilities,
recruit top talent, educate
the best and brightest
of the next generation,
and advise policymakers,
it looks set to remain such
a force for a long time to Qu Jiuhui
come.
“As time goes
by, more of the
best students are
choosing to stay
in China for their
Ph.D. studies.”
Editorial News Report
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