University students will be able to consult case studies from next year, giving practical examples of law, economics, business administration and public administration, officials from the Shanghai Education Commission revealed yesterday.

 

City professors from universities which excel in their subjects will compile the work. For instance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University will write case studies for Master of Business Administration students across the city, and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics will write on economics.

 

Universities will be able to consult the completed work online.

 

Teachers will be encouraged to use the resources in classroom teaching and discussion.

 

Wang Qi, vice director of the education commission who oversees the city's higher education, said that the case studies were designed to stop students from relying too much on textbooks.

 

"The case study method has proved effective in MBA programs and law school education throughout the world. It is through vivid cases that local students learn how to apply their book knowledge in reality," Wang said.

 

Commission officials said they would fund individual universities to write the studies as part of the city's efforts to improve postgraduate education. But they didn't disclose further funding details.

 

This year, the commission has already paid five million yuan (US$625,000) to encourage local postgraduate students to attend academic conferences both home and abroad.

 

(Shanghai Daily December 11, 2006)