Computer Science Education in the People's Republic of China.

China will suffer into the future from a shortage of computer professionals. With 75% of her population engaged in agriculture, she has only about 100,000 computer professionals, which is less than can be found within a healthy radius of Stanford University. There are 97 "key universities," but only 10 or 15 stand at the top as the nation's best; students in higher education comprise .001% of the total population and .007% of the total student population. Despite a general awareness of the country's pressing needs, China is not moving and changing fast enough to modernize and catch up with advanced countries. Although computer centers independent of the computer science department have been set up at a selected number of universities, all of the terminal work stations are located within the computer center building, which tends to inhibit rapid dissemination of the technology. Critical campus needs include library automation, updated classification coding systems, and the development and use of a management information system. Until China's academic communities become familiar with and comfortable with online information technology, it will not penetrate to other sectors of China's economy and society. China wants to modernize by the year 2000 to a level of the advanced countries in the 1980s. To begin to catch up or make relative progress, she must move faster than the technology. (DJR)