Alumni donation is an important work of world-class universities and an important indicator of a university's strength and quality. In the 37 years from 198 to 216, the total amount of alumni donations received by Chinese universities was RMB 17.1 billion. Donations from American university alumni reached $1 billion in 215 alone.

216 Department Budget of Colleges and Universities Directly under the Ministry of Education

Through the budget data of colleges and universities directly under the Ministry of Education in 216, we can find that Chinese universities are really "not short of money". Take Tsinghua University, which ranks first, as an example. In 216, its annual income was 13.93 billion yuan.

Top 1 Alumni Donations of China University in p>217

The total income of alumni donations in Tsinghua University in the past 27 years is only a mere 2.529 billion yuan, and the situation of the whole universities in China is basically the same. The contribution rate of alumni donations to university income is very low, which is very different from the income sources of European and American universities.

Take Harvard University as an example. In 214 alone, the school received 1.16 billion US dollars in alumni donations, accounting for more than half of Harvard's school funding.

why is there such a big gap between China's alumni donation and that of European and American countries?

Some people say that because Chinese universities are public, while European and American universities are mainly private, so the comparison is incomparable. However, Xiaobian has different views. There is no direct relationship between public universities, private universities and alumni donations.

Chinese universities have indeed produced a large number of rich people, but the reality is that some rich people do not take domestic universities as their first choice when making donations. At the beginning of 21, Zhang Lei, an undergraduate student at Renmin University of China, donated $8.88 million to Yale University School of Management, where the graduate students studied, but this move was criticized by quite a few netizens.

why are alumni reluctant to donate to their alma mater in China?

I think there are only two reasons. On the one hand, the plot of alumni's alma mater is not deep enough to make them willing to donate voluntarily. On the other hand, the use of donations is also an important reason that affects alumni donations.

(1) The lack of alma mater by alumni

Li Peigen, former president of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, once defined his alma mater as follows: What is an alma mater? It's the place where you scold her eight times a day but don't allow others to scold her once. In university education, the link between students and teachers is class hours and employment rate. There is less and less communication between teachers and students. "Most college students feel that they have not met a really good teacher at school.". This phenomenon of reduced communication between teachers and students and poor educational effect on students is difficult to make students love their alma mater. The most influential factor to students' level is not the school system, the size of classes, or extracurricular activities, but high-quality and efficient teachers.

(2) Domestic universities do not attach importance to social donations and are opaque

Most key universities only want to win state funds and do not attach importance to social donations. By 216, only 426 universities in China had established education foundations. Most colleges and universities in China don't pay attention to the donation rate, and when raising funds, it is "limited to a few rich alumni and limited to the efforts during the celebration". The "life chain" of a donation income in colleges and universities in China is short-lived. Most of the donation agreements will be reached during the school celebration. After the donation flows into the account of the University Education Foundation, the story often ends here. Where did the money go? At present, there are no compulsory public measures and clear regulations, and everything is decided by the school itself. These conditions make alumni worry a lot in the process of donation, and can't really stimulate alumni's enthusiasm for donation, so the number naturally won't go up.