A Harvard graduate earns US$120,000 a year as the headmaster of a Chinese private higher-learning institute, which so far represents the highest salary given to a headmaster of a Chinese school.

Chen Lin, the American economic management Ph.D. from the Kennedy Management College of Harvard University, was recently engaged by the Shandong Foreign Affairs and Translation College (SFATC) in east China's Shandong Province.

Chen is the only Chinese to have graduated from the Kennedy Management College. He has put forward many important theories concerning global finance, such as interest rate deadline configuration and risk management, which has been widely adopted by such renowned financial institutes as the US Federal Reserve Board and the Bank of America.

The world-renowned finance expert now works as the administrative principal of the school, and earns an unprecedented high salary.

Sun Chengwu, president of SFATC, said that the reason why the school pays such a high salary to employ a Harvard doctor is simple -- to gain an edge in the fierce competition in education circles, which has intensified since China's entry into the World Trade Organization.

"As a private college, it is only by introducing advanced educational management philosophy as soon as possible that we can attain an invincible position in the competition," Sun added.

Private colleges and universities only sprouted up in China in the late 1970s. They are not yet large in number, but they are full of vitality.

Statistics show that by the end of 2000 the number of Chinese private colleges and universities accounted for 39 percent of the total number of Chinese higher-learning institutes -- reaching 13,000 and with some 1.5 million students.

Compared with public schools, many private schools offer more fashionable courses and provide better accommodation conditions.

The burgeoning SFATC, only three years old, is expanding rapidly. The number of students on campus is expected to double the present 4,000 next year.

For Chen Lin, part of his job is to improve academic and student exchanges between SFATC and foreign universities. He will help the school send out 10 elite undergraduates to study in the world's top-notch universities, such as Harvard and Stanford, every year.

(People's Daily May 28, 2002)