(09/11/2000)
CHANGCHUN, Jilin Province: Education, especially higher education, faces great challenges over the next 100 years and will see major overhauls, expert presenters agreed at the 2000 China Changchun International Education Forum on Saturday.

"Taking into account economic globalization and the surging knowledge-based economy and the Internet, the 21st century is an era of competition for talent," said Hao Keming, chairman of the forum.

More mid-career and retiree students, people who simply enjoy learning, will seek education along with traditional students, a union that calls for more flexible ways of learning and teaching, said Professor Peter Ford, vice-president of Nottingham University in Britain.

"Electronic libraries, multimedia courses and Internet browsing have made it possible for distance learning and lifelong education," he said, listing a few possible new methods.

Statistics indicate that the number of Internet users worldwide will rise to 500 million in three years, from the current 200 million, and by 2005, college-level schools will require 160 million more slots for students.

"China will spare no efforts to improve the level of higher education in various ways," said Zhang Li, director-general of the National Centre for Education Development Research under the Ministry of Education.

Zhang added that distance and network learning will be advanced in China.