Despite Booming Growth, Chinese Universities Find Themselves Buried in Debt

This article by Pail Mooney of the Chronicle:

The survey, of 76 colleges and universities affiliated with the Ministry of Education, showed that the institutions were heavily reliant on bank loans and government funds, the official China Daily reported on Wednesday, quoting a report in the Chinese-language 21st-Century Business Herald.

The university's survey also found that the 76 institutions of higher education had a total income of $8.14-billion in 2005, the bulk of which came from government funds and tuition. That same year, debt was about $4.17-billion, or an average of $54.8-million per institution. The report said that the government was the main source of funds for universities, providing more than 49 percent of their income.