Last week, China's top nine universities formalized an elite group of universities known as the C9. According to reports by news agency The Australian, these nine Chinese universities "have signed co-operative agreements that feature 'flexible student exchange programs, deepened co-operation on training of postgraduates, and the establishment of a credit system that allows students to win credits through attending classes in member universities of C9.'" The Australian reported that the formation of the C9 "completes an 11-year government plan to elevate a group of Chinese higher education institutions into world-class level" by pumping large amounts of money into these nine universities. The creation of the C9 is being hailed by many in the world media as the creation of the Chinese Ivy League.

Now, why should we American college students care about developments in higher education in China? Well, when I first read the news reports about the formation of the C9, I must admit I got a bit worried.

There is a lot of talk these days about how the United States' reign as a world economic superpower is coming to an end, and how China will likely take the role of economic powerhouse of the world. And as I recently learned in "Introduction to Economics," the quality of education in a country is proportionately related to that county's economic success. With the formation of the C9, China could begin to challenge the United States' almost-unrivaled status as a leader in higher education and thus as a world economic power.

However, as I read more about the formation of the elite C9, I began to realize that those of us here in America should not be threatened by the creation of an elite union of Chinese universities. Despite the amount of money the Chinese government may be pumping into these institutions and despite any agreements made between the universities, Chinese universities do not grant their students true academic freedom.

According to reports from the news agency Asia One, up to 80 percent of college courses in China are compulsory. And according to a report by CRI.English.com, less than 30 percent of Chinese college students are allowed to change their majors during their college careers. Thus many students are forced to complete degrees in fields in which they are not interested.

This is in marked contrast to the educational requirements at Brandeis and most other highly ranked American universities. While course requirements such as Columbia University's famous "core curriculum" or even Brandeis' own general university requirements for graduation mandate that students take a certain number of required courses, these courses make up a minimal number of the dozens of courses any student will take during his time at college.

Wang Jianxun, associate professor at China University of Political Science and Law and a critic of the system of higher education in China, remarked to The Australian that "to form a league is merely a formality, while formality is not important, what is important is the spirit of chasing academic freedom, which Chinese universities lack."

Wang acknowledges where the strength of any institute of higher education lies. The quality of education at a university is not primarily determined by how much money the government pumps into it or by its membership in a league of elite schools. The quality of education in a university is determined by the degree of academic freedom that it grants its students.

As a quick walk through any university library will show, there is a tremendous amount of knowledge out there. Young adults ought to be exposed to a wide variety of areas of study, for only through that can many young people learn what they truly love and what field they see as a personal calling.

Furthermore, an academic institution where knowledge is valued for its own sake will certainly become an institution in which serious study of intellectual exploration is taken seriously. If students are learning not as a means to an end but as a means in itself, they will take their learning more seriously.

As long as Chinese universities do not give their students the academic freedom to engage in full intellectual exploration, and as long as Chinese university students are taking 80 percent of their classes because they are compulsory rather than because they value learning for learning's sake, Chinese institutions of higher education, no matter what league they belong to, will not be able to rival the top American universities.

It is no question that we in the United States have far more freedom than the citizens of China do. So let us take the formation of the C9 as a chance to appreciate one of the most precious freedoms we young people have in the United States: academic freedom.