On September 7, 1999, Zhang Yimou’s film *Not One Less* premiered at the Venice International Film Festival.

The film authentically depicted the state of education in “rural China” and ultimately won the Golden Lion for Best Film.

More than 20 years later, we have universalized compulsory education and won the battle against poverty. The “rural China” of the new era has been transformed, yet the issues of unbalanced and inadequate development remain prominent.

This imbalance and inadequacy are evident in both the economy and education. It is no wonder, then, that Tsinghua University professor Ju Jiandong proposed investing 20 trillion yuan over 10 years to build 2,000 county-level universities.

Faced with the imperative of high-quality development, county-level economies indeed require the support of high-caliber talent.

However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to building universities.

Is it necessary to establish universities in county towns?

Internationally, there is a concept known as the “gross enrollment rate in higher education,” which refers to the ratio of the number of students enrolled to the school-age population.

It is generally accepted that a rate below 15% indicates an “elite education” phase, 15%–50% signifies the “massification” of higher education, and a rate above 50% marks the “universalization” of higher education.

In 1978, China’s gross enrollment rate in higher education was only 1.55%.

By 2021, this figure had risen to 57.8%, though it still lags significantly behind the United States’ rate of 89%. In the U.S., a large number of community colleges have lowered the barriers to higher education, giving more people the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and acquire vocational skills.

Therefore, as higher education enters the universalization stage, continuing to build universities is certainly necessary.

But is it necessary to locate them in county towns?

Let’s hold off on drawing conclusions for now and take a look at a recent hot topic: the influx of highly educated talent into county towns.

On April 30, Suichang County in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, released the “2022 Suichang County Announcement on Finalists for Medical Examinations for the Recruitment of Outstanding Graduates from World-Class Universities.” All finalists for the 24 entry-level positions came from prestigious universities such as Zhejiang University, Fudan University, the University of Science and Technology of China, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Suichang County’s appeal stems from its “genuine” financial incentives: 450,000 yuan for bachelor’s and master’s degree holders, and 750,000 yuan for PhDs.

Previously, Funing and Binhai counties in Yancheng, Jiangsu, as well as Heping County in Heyuan, Guangdong, had all launched talent recruitment programs offering “high salaries to attract talent,” and each saw a surge of applications from graduates of top universities.

The purpose behind these county-level governments’ bold talent recruitment efforts is clear:

to drive local economic and social development through a talent advantage, with the talent in turn sharing in the fruits of that development, achieving a “win-win” for both sides.

However, when talent recruitment fails to take local realities into account, the result is often a futile effort.

On the one hand, talent may come solely for the subsidies, without including the county in their long-term career plans; on the other hand, the limited opportunities in these counties may not meet the development needs of such talent.

If it is this difficult to attract and retain talent for public sector positions, the talent gap in the county’s industrial sector is certainly even greater.

Establishing their own universities may be the most reliable solution.

Take a county that is prioritizing the development of the food machinery industry, for example. It has recently begun implementing smart upgrades across production, packaging, and testing processes, requiring 1,000 mechanical engineering professionals annually.

If the county wants to cultivate this talent pool through customized training, who should it turn to?

Could they commission Zhejiang University to do so? Even if Zhejiang University were willing, how many of its graduates would actually be willing to work in this county?

What about commissioning a university in the city to provide training? With so many districts and counties in the city, it is highly unlikely that a university would allocate dedicated faculty and curriculum specifically for this county.

If the county could establish its own university, it could do just that.

Admission to Zhejiang University’s mechanical engineering program requires a score of 650, while universities in the city require 500; a county-run university could set the threshold at 400. Students admitted could be trained through customized curricula tailored to the food machinery industry and employed locally upon graduation.

Talent trained in this way would undoubtedly be much better aligned with the industry.

What kind of county is suitable for establishing a university?

Therefore, while establishing universities in county towns is necessary, building universities should not be treated as a lifeline for local economic development.

As I previously analyzed in the article “County Towns Ride the Wave: Whoever Wins the Population Wins the Future”:

Under the policy of “guiding county development through classification,” counties with industrial support will rise rapidly, while those lacking such conditions will gradually decline.

For those county towns that have found industrial support and genuinely need high-quality talent, their development of higher education should be supported.

This is not a “wishful” fantasy, but rather a practical and necessary step. Take Kunshan, known as “China’s Number One County,” for example: it has already established several universities based on the needs of industrial development:

Two undergraduate institutions:

Duke Kunshan University

Suzhou University College of Applied Technology

4 junior colleges:

Jiangsu Radio and Television University Kunshan College

Silicon Lake Vocational and Technical College

Kunshan Top Information Vocational and Technical College

Kunshan Dengyun Science and Technology Vocational College

The programs at these universities are designed to meet the needs of Kunshan’s industrial development, truly cultivating talent for the local economy.

However, for county-level cities lacking industrial support, attempting to prolong their existence through infrastructure projects like building new universities will ultimately end in chaos.

To summarize, university construction, as a form of infrastructure development, is itself a lever for driving economic growth. Moreover, the educational services provided by universities can cultivate talent for future economic growth—it is therefore necessary for university development to moderately outpace industrial development.

Furthermore, while university development should “moderately prioritize county-level areas,” it should not adopt an egalitarian approach.

Some may ask: What about counties that are unsuitable for hosting universities?

Regarding this issue, the "Opinions on Promoting Urbanization with County Towns as Key Carriers" provides a direction—

Guide the transformation and development of counties experiencing population outflow.

In light of urban development trends, we should urge counties experiencing population outflow to strictly control the increase in urban construction land and revitalize existing land resources; promote the moderate concentration of population and public service resources; strengthen social security and assistance programs; orderly guide population migration to neighboring regions with economic advantages; and support resource-depleted counties with suitable conditions in cultivating successor and alternative industries.

For counties suffering from severe industrial imbalance and population outflow, the primary focus should be on addressing the livelihood security issues caused by population contraction.

If we are truly to develop education, it should not be higher education, but rather continued investment in basic education, ensuring that children in these regions do not fall behind at the starting line.

Higher education should serve industrial development, with a focus on efficiency, as college graduates require employment opportunities.

Basic education, on the other hand, must prioritize equity and be directed more toward counties with underdeveloped industries, because their children are, after all, Chinese children too.

This approach will better help resolve the “contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development.”

Moderately Proactive Infrastructure Planning

On April 28, a meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission noted: Infrastructure that helps drive industrial development and safeguard national security should be planned with moderate foresight, while carefully balancing the extent of such forward-looking construction.

The "Opinions on Promoting Urbanization with County Towns as Key Carriers," issued on May 6, specifically called for expanding the supply of educational resources but did not mention higher education.

The author believes that supporting the development of higher education in county towns backed by industrial support is a necessary form of infrastructure investment.

Why is this the case?

In the early days of reform and opening-up, capital was relatively scarce in China. Investing in infrastructure such as railways, highways, and airports helped attract foreign investment and directly drove economic growth.

However, the situation has changed. The return on investment for traditional infrastructure—such as railways, highways, and airports—is declining. Infrastructure in major cities is already largely complete, and upgrading infrastructure in central and western regions and rural areas is primarily aimed at improving people’s livelihoods, with limited direct economic impact.

The “new infrastructure” investments that the state has been vigorously pursuing in recent years are precisely aimed at seeking new growth opportunities.

Professor Ju Jiandong has proposed “investing 20 trillion yuan over 10 years to build 2,000 county-level universities.” While this unique form of infrastructure development may take time to yield results, its benefits will endure for generations, and its long-term return on investment is by no means low.

As the saying goes, higher education must serve industrial development.

If the entire nation could profit by developing low-end manufacturing and processing for export, then the talent produced by vocational high schools and technical schools would be sufficient.

However, if low-end manufacturing no longer offers profit margins in China, with corresponding investments dwindling, and the industry must move toward high-end sectors, the talent requirements can no longer be met by vocational high schools and technical schools alone.

Shifting toward the development of higher education is an inevitable trend.

As key nodes connecting cities and rural areas, county towns bear the heavy responsibility of absorbing industrial, population, and functional shifts. Establishing universities that align with local industries facilitates local employment and meets the demand for high-quality talent in county-level economic development.

As for what kind of universities are suitable for county towns, I previously discussed Germany’s “dual system” of education in my article “Vocational Education: A Critical Weakness That ‘Made in China’ Urgently Needs to Address”—

Simply put, this system allows enterprises to take the lead in running universities, integrating much of the knowledge required in the workplace into university curricula, and teaching students hands-on how to perform their jobs, ensuring they are ready to contribute immediately upon graduation.

Talent is trained by enterprises, and the results benefit the enterprises in return, creating a virtuous cycle.

At this point, there are no shortcuts left—without talent, industries cannot thrive; without industries, talk of talent is nothing but empty rhetoric. For county-level cities, offering large subsidies to compete with big cities for top-tier university students is not a sustainable long-term strategy.

Establishing local universities—recruiting locally, providing customized training, and facilitating local employment—is undoubtedly a reliable path toward sustainable talent development.

Of course, strengthening industrial support capabilities remains a crucial prerequisite.