Art education in regular institutions of higher learning has witnessed much headway in recent years. A system of art education has basically formed in institutions of higher learning with Chinese characteristics. In 1996, the Ministry of Education issued "Opinions on Promoting Art Education in Institutions of Higher Learning". Many institutions have established and strengthened teaching and administrative setup for art education such as research office for art teaching and department of art education. In most cases, this type of setup is under direct leadership of general administration of the institutions and the president or a vice president is concurrently the head£® Offering of art courses as selective or even compulsory is an important measure adopted£® In many institutions, selective art courses are included into their teaching programs and credits are counted£® Related courses amount to dozens, touching upon aesthetics, theory of literature and art, music, fine arts, dramas, dancing, film and TV programs, calligraphy, photography and so on. Another important measure is to organize varied and interesting lectures on art£® These lectures are of wide-ranging coverage in contents£®The lecturers are in most cases experts of great attainment in art within the institution or famous artist outside. Selective art courses and lectures on art are well received by students. Other courses are hard to rival with them in terms of numbers of students selecting the courses and students' enthusiasm in attending the lectures. Every institution has its art societies and activities. This fully expresses the flourishing development of art education in regular institutions of higher learning. Nowadays, all institutions have established a variety of students, art societies and interest groups. Organized and motivated by these societies, art activities are carried out vividly and dramatically, which have not only improved students' attainment in art appreciation and creation, but also strengthened exchange and linkage among institutions and between institutions and the society.
The achievements of art education acquired by regular institutions of education at all levels can not be separated from development of art teachers' training, which has guaranteed provision of needed teachers. Since the adoption of the policies of reform and open up, rapid enlargement has been withessed in teacher training programs for art education in the country. Up to now, there are over 160 institutions of higher learning that offer disciplines of music education and education of fine arts, including 180 disciplines of music education and 200 disciplines of fine arts. Full-time teacher training institutions for art education has a student body of over 20,000£® The levels and forms of teacher training programs for art education tend to be more rationalized and better from day to day. Many institutions have set up correspondence and night schools, and undertaken to organize self-study examinations for adults in music education and education of fine arts. In 1989, the regular teacher training college officially set up disciplines of music education and education of fine arts.At secondary level, there are 8 teacher training schools of art education in the country, with a student population of over 2, 000£» some 200 regular secondary teacher training schools have also set up over 1,000 classes of music education and education of fine arts £¨or intensified classes£© with a national total of graduates of more than 30,000 each year. All general teacher training schools also attach great importance to art education of students. While efforts are made to guarantee that all students accomplish with satisfactory results study of stipulated compulsory courses on music and fine arts, attention is also paid to strengthen teaching of music and fine arts as selective courses. The reforms in teacher training programs of art education and teaching of art courses have made relatively rationalized adjustments in the distribution of teacher training programs, in their levels, sizes and structures, and have also further clarified the objectives and effectively promoted establishment of a scientific teaching system.
In recent years, research in art education has also made remarkable achievements in general institutions of education. A research system has taken shape progressively, consisting of national, local and community organization, which are both independent and inter-linked£® International exchanges are also very active in art education. Through diversified channels, exchanges and co-operative programs have been conducted successively with countries such as USA, Germany, Russia, Austria, Japan, Sweden, Italy, France an DPRK, China has participated in or organized many international exchange activities in art education. All these fruitful international programs have laid down a sound foundation for art education in China to head for the world. |
