The nature of independent colleges
Characteristics of independent colleges
The Development Course of Independent Colleges
Relevant policies on "independent colleges" in recent years: list of independent colleges in Tianjin
List of Independent Colleges in Hebei Province
List of Independent Colleges in Shanxi Province
List of Independent Colleges in Liaoning Province
List of Independent Colleges in Jilin Province
List of Independent Colleges in Heilongjiang Province
List of independent colleges in Shanghai
List of Independent Colleges in Jiangsu Province
List of Independent Colleges in Zhejiang Province
List of Independent Colleges in Anhui Province
List of Independent Colleges in Fujian Province
List of Independent Colleges in Jiangxi Province
List of Independent Colleges in Shandong Province
List of Independent Colleges in Henan Province
List of Independent Colleges in Hubei Province
List of Independent Colleges in Hunan Province
List of Independent Colleges in Guangdong Province
List of independent colleges in Guangxi
List of Independent Colleges in Hainan Province
List of independent colleges in Chongqing
List of Independent Colleges in Sichuan Province
List of Independent Colleges in Guizhou Province
List of Independent Colleges in Yunnan Province
List of Independent Colleges in Shaanxi Province
List of Independent Colleges in Gansu Province
List of Ningxia Independent Colleges
List of Independent Colleges in Qinghai Province
List of Independent Colleges in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
Brief introduction of similar independent colleges abroad; The nature of independent colleges
Characteristics of independent colleges
The Development Course of Independent Colleges
Relevant policies on "independent colleges" in recent years: list of independent colleges in Tianjin
List of Independent Colleges in Hebei Province
List of Independent Colleges in Shanxi Province
List of Independent Colleges in Liaoning Province
List of Independent Colleges in Jilin Province
List of Independent Colleges in Heilongjiang Province
List of independent colleges in Shanghai
List of Independent Colleges in Jiangsu Province
List of Independent Colleges in Zhejiang Province
List of Independent Colleges in Anhui Province
List of Independent Colleges in Fujian Province
List of Independent Colleges in Jiangxi Province
List of Independent Colleges in Shandong Province
List of Independent Colleges in Henan Province
List of Independent Colleges in Hubei Province
List of Independent Colleges in Hunan Province
List of Independent Colleges in Guangdong Province
List of independent colleges in Guangxi
List of Independent Colleges in Hainan Province
List of independent colleges in Chongqing
List of Independent Colleges in Sichuan Province
List of Independent Colleges in Guizhou Province
List of Independent Colleges in Yunnan Province
List of Independent Colleges in Shaanxi Province
List of Independent Colleges in Gansu Province
List of Independent Colleges in Ningxia
List of Independent Colleges in Qinghai Province
List of Independent Colleges in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
Brief introduction of similar independent colleges abroad
[Edit this paragraph] The nature of independent colleges
According to the Measures for the Establishment and Management of Independent Colleges, independent colleges refer to institutions of higher learning that cooperate with social organizations or individuals other than state institutions to implement undergraduate education and use non-state financial funds. Independent colleges are an important part of private higher education and belong to public welfare undertakings. The state stipulates that applicants should be responsible for the teaching and management of independent colleges to ensure the quality of running schools; The cooperators shall be responsible for providing all the conditions and facilities required for the independent college to run a school, and participate in the management, supervision and leadership of the college. An independent college should have independent legal personality, independent campus buildings, independent teaching and property management, enrollment and graduation certificates. Since independent colleges belong to undergraduate level, the Ministry of Education is responsible for examination and approval. Without the approval of the Ministry of Education, the state does not recognize their academic qualifications. The enrollment of independent colleges is carried out through the provinces and cities where the college is located, and the scores are lowered on the basis of participating in the national college entrance examination enrollment plan. Graduates from independent colleges will receive diplomas recognized by the state. For students who have completed their studies and passed the examination, they will be issued with graduation certificates from independent colleges; Those who meet the conditions for degree granting shall be awarded a bachelor's degree certificate from an independent college. The important difference between an independent college and an internal college is its independence. Independent colleges have independent campuses and basic school facilities, implement relatively independent teaching organization and management, enroll students independently, issue academic certificates independently, and conduct independent financial accounting. Having the qualification of an independent legal person and being able to bear civil liabilities independently. Independent colleges also independently fill in the basic statistical statements of higher education according to the national regulations on statistical work of education. It is a completely independent institution in nature and has little to do with affiliated universities. The important difference between an independent college and an internal college in a university lies in its completely private nature. Because of its independence, the independent college's funding source is not from state funding, but is raised by the organizers of the college in various ways, and its funds, tuition and other related management are also managed by private universities. Independent colleges are gradually becoming an important part of the development of higher education in China at present and in the future. In recent years, independent colleges have developed rapidly. At present, there are more than 300 independent colleges in China, of which Hubei has the largest number, 3 1, Liaoning 22, Hunan 15, Hebei 14 and Jiangxi 13. Relevant leaders of the Ministry of Education pointed out that independent colleges are an important measure to ensure the sustained and healthy development of higher education in China in the future. Independent colleges will become a bright spot in the future development of higher education. Independent college refers to the secondary college at the undergraduate level organized by ordinary undergraduate colleges in accordance with the new mechanism and model. It is different from the secondary colleges, branch schools or other similar secondary institutions established by ordinary universities in accordance with the public mechanism and model.
[Edit this paragraph] The characteristics of independent colleges
1. All the funds and other related expenses required for adopting the private mechanism shall be borne by the partner or raised by the private mechanism, and the student charging standard shall be formulated with reference to the relevant national enrollment charging policies of private colleges and universities; 2. The key to implementing the new mode of running a school is to highlight the word "independence". An independent college should have an independent campus and basic school facilities, implement relatively independent teaching organization and management, enroll students independently, issue academic certificates independently, conduct financial accounting independently, have independent legal personality and be able to bear civil liabilities independently; 3. Implementing the new management system The management system and measures of the independent college shall be agreed by the applicant and the partner.
[Edit this paragraph] The development of independent colleges
Independent college is an important achievement in the reform and innovation of China's higher education system in the past 10 years, which has made positive contributions to the development of private higher education and the popularization of higher education. At present, with the promulgation and implementation of the Measures for the Establishment and Management of Independent Colleges (Order No.26 of the Ministry of Education, hereinafter referred to as "Order No.26 of the Ministry of Education"), especially some independent colleges have been successfully transformed into private colleges with the approval of the Ministry of Education, which indicates that the development of independent colleges in China has entered a new historical stage. First, the "dependent" period of running a school relying on the parent university (1999—2002) Generally speaking, independent colleges in China came into being in 1999, marked by the joint construction of zhejiang university city college by Zhejiang University and Hangzhou Municipal People's Government. In the initial stage, these institutions were collectively referred to as "secondary colleges" and later called "private secondary colleges" or "newly built secondary colleges". Their inherent basic feature is their dependence on applying for universities. 1. The goal of running a school serves the overall interests of the bidding universities. The goal of running a school is an overall understanding of the nature and purpose of the school. It is not only reflected in the school-running concept, but also in the guiding ideology, overall strategy and development strategy. It is the fundamental pursuit and value orientation of a school with overall situation and direction for a long time. Because independent colleges do not have the main qualification of running schools independently in the initial stage, all their school-running activities serve the overall interests of the bidding universities. It is manifested in the following aspects: First, it serves the needs of colleges and universities to apply for enrollment expansion. Two important events in the history of higher education, namely "the expansion of higher education" and "the establishment of independent colleges", both occurred at the turn of the century, which seemed to have great contingency, but in fact they were inevitably related, and the latter served the former. 1999, the central government made a decision to expand the enrollment scale of colleges and universities. In that year, the enrollment reached 1596800, an increase of 5 13200 or 47.4% compared with 1998. In the following three years, the inflation rate reached 38. 16%, 2 1.6 1% and 19.46% respectively. By 2002, there were 3.2 million students in colleges and universities nationwide, and the number of students in colleges and universities was14,625,200. The gross enrollment rate of higher education reached 15%, and the total scale exceeded that of the United States (14.2 million), ranking first in the world. College enrollment expansion needs certain basic conditions, but according to the financial investment of the country at that time, the ability of colleges and universities to continuously expand enrollment is obviously insufficient. In this context, it has become a common practice for ordinary colleges and universities to establish "secondary colleges" through private mechanisms to expand the enrollment scale. During the three-year enrollment expansion from 1999 to 2002, more than 300 secondary colleges were established in universities across the country, accounting for a large share of enrollment expansion. In 2000, Jilin Province approved the construction of nine "new secondary colleges", which enrolled 4,000 undergraduates that year, accounting for 40% of the total enrollment expansion in the province, and the enrollment expansion effect was very remarkable. The second is to serve the needs of applying for universities to increase their income. At the turn of the century, the expansion of college enrollment is one of the national strategies to stimulate economic growth, and the establishment of independent colleges is an important measure to attract social capital investment. It is estimated that only 67 private colleges and more than 100 "second-level colleges" added two years before the enrollment expansion have stimulated social investment of at least 20 billion yuan. From the perspective of bidding for colleges and universities, it is more profitable to hold a "secondary college". According to estimates, if an independent college with a scale of 3,000 people is set up through bank loans, after deducting the hardware investment such as land acquisition, infrastructure construction, purchase of teaching equipment and books, headcount expenses, administrative teaching business expenses, depreciation of fixed assets and other expenses, the balance of tuition income can be fully paid off in about 65,438+00 years, which can "net" a "secondary college"; Running a school in cooperation with non-educational institutions or individuals is a kind of unprofitable business, because ordinary colleges and universities actually obtain income by leasing their "undergraduate franchise" to "secondary colleges", which is similar to the "OEM" in the industry, and the income is not proportional to their actual investment. This is also an important reason why ordinary colleges and universities are unwilling to give up the control of independent colleges for a long time. 2. It is a new thing to set up an independent college without the qualification of an independent school-running subject, and there is no precedent to follow. In the initial stage, independent colleges are generally examined and approved by provincial education administrative departments, and there are no specific rules for how ordinary colleges and universities cooperate with non-educational institutions, especially private non-educational institutions or individuals. Therefore, the examination and approval authority only regards the establishment of a "second-level college" as a university with an additional subsidiary within it, so it does not strictly examine the qualifications and conditions for running a university. As long as an application is made, it can generally be approved. Because of this, these "secondary colleges" have not obtained vital independent qualifications. Including: First, there is no independent school name. In the initial stage, independent colleges are generally called "XX University (College) ×× College", and some are called "XX University ×× Campus", collectively referred to as "secondary colleges". The parent university is not only the organizer of these private secondary colleges, but also their managers and actual owners. Second, it does not have the qualification to independently issue academic diplomas. During this period, the methods of issuing academic certificates by independent colleges vary greatly. Some schools are issued in the name of independent colleges, while others are issued in the name of parent universities. Third, they generally have no national school certification. According to the relevant regulations of our country, the bid of undergraduate colleges must be approved by the national education administrative department. However, independent colleges lack this link in the initial stage, so they are in a state of absence of national macro-control for a long time. The conditions for running a school are not enough to support it to run a university by itself. It is not enough to have a strong will, but also to have basic conditions for running a school. In the initial stage, the conditions for running an independent college are provided by the parent university. First, the parent university is the main source of teachers for independent colleges. It is estimated that at least 1/3 of the full-time teachers in the initial stage of independent colleges are part-time teachers in the parent college, 1/3 are employed retired teachers including the parent college, and 1/3 are their own teachers. This has played an important role in utilizing and revitalizing the idle teachers' resources in colleges and universities, and improving the running efficiency of bidding colleges and universities by improving the teacher-student ratio. But because of this, most independent college teachers put themselves in the position of "migrant workers", lacking the consciousness of "builders" and masters, lacking the sense of identity, belonging and common values of independent colleges, and not caring about the construction of independent colleges, it is difficult to form the centripetal force and cohesion of independent colleges' independent development. Second, the setting of disciplines and majors is characterized by "cloning" the parent university. Many independent colleges depend entirely on their alma mater for their majors. What are the dominant disciplines and majors of the parent university? What are the disciplines and majors of independent colleges? This phenomenon has continued until now. According to statistics, in 2008, there were 20 independent colleges organized by provincial universities in Hubei Province 17, and 4 16 undergraduate majors were enrolled. 403 of these majors are directly close to their alma mater, accounting for 96.87%; Among them, 13 independent college has the same major setting as the parent college. It is precisely because they have no characteristics and pursuits that they lose the premise and motivation for independent survival and development. Third, major legal relations such as legal person and property right are not clear. At the beginning of the establishment of independent colleges, the agreement on the relationship between responsibilities, obligations and rights was generally irregular, so disputes such as civil responsibilities, creditor's rights and debts often occurred, and independent colleges and their running partners were often in a weak position in dispute resolution. Second, the period of "independence" to enhance the autonomy of running a school (2003-2008) In 2003, marked by the "Several Opinions on Standardizing and Strengthening the Management of Independent Colleges with New Mechanisms and Models in Colleges and Universities" issued by the Ministry of Education (Guo Fa [2003] No.8, referred to as "Document No.8 of the Ministry of Education"), independent colleges in China began to run their own schools with the support of national policies. The performance is as follows: 1. The nature of independent colleges has been clarified. Document No.8 of the Ministry of Education put forward the concept of "independent college" for the first time, and pointed out at the beginning of its first article: "The independent college mentioned in this paper refers to the secondary college at the undergraduate level organized by ordinary undergraduate colleges in accordance with the new mechanism and model. Secondary colleges,' branch schools' or other similar secondary institutions established by some ordinary undergraduate colleges according to the public mechanism and mode do not belong to this category. Although the so-called "new mechanism and new model" is still vague, it excludes similar institutions organized by public mechanisms by exclusion method, so its meaning is still very clear. Specifically, an "independent college" has three characteristics: First, it implements a new school-running mechanism. Independent colleges are essentially private colleges, and their investment is mainly borne by partners or raised by private mechanisms. The charging standard is also formulated according to the relevant policies of the state on enrollment fees of private colleges and universities. The second is to implement a new school-running model. It is the first time to put forward "five independences" in running schools and management, that is, independent college headquarters is relatively independent, has independent legal personality, issues certificates independently, has independent campus, and implements independent financial accounting, thus giving independent colleges exact connotation. The third is to implement a new management system. The management system and measures of the independent college shall be agreed by the applicant and the cooperator through consultation, and the relationship between the responsibilities, rights and interests of the two parties shall be standardized and embodied by signing a legally binding agreement. In addition, independent colleges implement the principal responsibility system under the leadership of the board of directors. The composition and candidates of the board of directors shall be agreed by both parties, and the president shall be recommended by the applicant and elected by the board of directors. These characteristics have initially possessed the basic elements that private colleges and universities should possess. As long as it is effectively implemented, it is natural for independent colleges to transform into private colleges. 2. With the obvious characteristics of "dual track system" in the transitional period, in order to strengthen the macro management of independent colleges, the Ministry of Education began to clean up and re-register more than 360 so-called "secondary colleges" in the second half of 2003. After examination one by one, more than 100 "secondary colleges" were disqualified, of which 249 were re-registered. Through rectification, the characteristics of "Excellence", "People" and "Independence" of independent colleges have been widely recognized by all walks of life. However, due to the profound contradiction between the publicity of its school-running system and the private nature of its operating mechanism, the development of independent colleges in this period has obvious characteristics of "dual track system", and its disadvantages are fully exposed in the enrollment work. On the one hand, during this period, independent colleges developed on a large scale and at a high speed, with a sharp increase in scale and number; On the other hand, there are fewer and fewer candidates who have reached the "three books" score and whose families have the ability to pay. This has led to fierce competition among independent colleges for students. Many independent colleges have exploited the loopholes in the dual-track system, and there have been illegal acts such as "dropping admission", "acting as an agent for enrollment" and "false propaganda". In this regard, the Ministry of Education issued a notice in 2005, which put forward the "five noes" regulations on the enrollment of independent colleges, that is, independent colleges shall not enroll students beyond the plan without authorization, shall not entrust any intermediary agencies to organize enrollment or enrollment, shall not charge students any fees beyond the charging items and standards stipulated by the state, shall not lower the enrollment standards of candidates in violation of regulations, and shall not enroll students in colleges or conduct training according to "continuous learning". In order to further standardize the school-running behavior of independent colleges, the Ministry of Education also conducted special inspections on the basic school-running conditions, enrollment and teaching work of registered independent colleges, and notified the inspection results, and corrected the violations. In 2005, the Ministry of Education conducted a informed criticism for seven independent colleges in Hubei Province, reduced the enrollment plans of these seven independent colleges in that year, and instructed the provincial education administrative departments to rectify the independent colleges with problems such as substandard school-running conditions and failure of bidders and funders to perform their duties. In 2006, the Ministry of Education stopped the enrollment qualification of six independent colleges that were run entirely by leased land and teaching and administrative buildings in 2006, limited the enrollment number of 38 independent colleges whose land and teaching and administrative buildings were not up to standard in 2006, proposed informed criticism to 189 independent colleges whose assets were not handed over, and proposed informed criticism to 77 ordinary colleges whose running conditions did not meet the requirements due to errors in reporting statistics of secondary vocational education or statistics of students. Through a series of strengthening management and policy guidance, the self-management, self-restraint and self-restraint ability of independent colleges are gradually enhanced. 3. Beginning to transform into applied undergraduate education, China's independent colleges are generally developed on the basis of applying for superior disciplines and characteristic majors in colleges and universities, which are very similar to the parent universities in terms of training objectives and specialty settings. According to statistics, among the 20 independent colleges organized by provincial universities in Hubei Province 17, the similarity rate between majors and alma mater is over 96%. 13 independent college with the same major as the parent college. This is very attractive for candidates in the early days of the establishment of independent colleges, especially during the period when parents' universities issue diplomas. However, as the "halo effect" of the parent university's enrollment gradually fades, the original disciplines and majors are no longer the advantages to attract candidates, but also the sources for independent colleges and parent universities to compete for students and the job market. Under the pressure of survival, many independent colleges began to change the direction of running schools and create the characteristics of cultivating applied undergraduate talents for regional economic development. For example, zhejiang university city college, the earliest founder, carried out the overall planning of "dislocation positioning and coordinated development", built an applied professional system, and built an applied talent training model of "horizontal transfer and vertical promotion"; Taihu College of Jiangnan University has designed a talent training scheme according to the idea of two years' general education, one year's professional education and one year's independent education, forming a new talent training mode of "2+ 1+ 1". City College of Xi Jiaotong University aims at cultivating high-quality applied talents to serve the regional economic construction, and puts forward a "three outstanding" talent training mode, which emphasizes sufficiency, practicability and adaptability in theoretical teaching, basic skills, professional working ability and comprehensive skills in practical teaching, and basic experiments, comprehensive experiments, simulation experiments and open experiments in experimental teaching. The running modes of these independent colleges are obviously different from the running traditions of parent universities, especially research universities, and they have taken the most important step towards independence. Of course, the formation of school-running characteristics is a long process. In order to survive, many independent colleges compete for short and fast majors, popular majors and low-cost majors. Although it avoids the vicious competition with the parent university, it leads to the serious convergence of running schools between independent colleges. According to statistics, among the more than 300 independent colleges in China, 75% offer English majors, 765,438+0% offer computer science and technology majors, 62% offer international economy and trade majors, and more than 40% offer popular majors such as art design, marketing, electronic information engineering, law, business administration, information management and information system, and accounting. Therefore, how to create school-running characteristics is an important issue faced by independent colleges in the new period. Three. Transition period (2008-) According to the deployment of the Ministry of Education, there will be a five-year transition period for some existing independent colleges to "transfer" to private colleges. The transformation of independent colleges into private colleges will create a new situation in the development of higher education in China. 1. Independent colleges have gained a new development foundation. In 2008, the Ministry of Education issued "Order No.26", which cleared up a series of theoretical and practical problems that have puzzled people for 10, and made the development prospect of independent colleges clearer. 1. Regarding the nature of independent colleges, Article 2 of Decree No.26 of the Ministry of Education clearly states: "Independent colleges mentioned in these Measures refer to institutions of higher learning that cooperate with social organizations or individuals other than state institutions to implement undergraduate education and use non-state financial funds." Compared with Document No.8 of the Ministry of Education, Order No.26 highlights two basic requirements for running a school, namely "sponsor" and "source of funds", thus clarifying the responsibilities and obligations of each school-running subject of independent colleges. Secondly, regarding the rights and interests of independent colleges, Decree No.26 of the Ministry of Education clearly stated that independent colleges should enjoy all the encouragement and support policies proposed in the Law on the Promotion of Private Education and its implementing regulations, including special fund support, idle land rent support, financial and credit support, tax preferential support, land support for public welfare undertakings, protection of the rights and interests of faculty and staff, and financial assistance for students with financial difficulties. Thirdly, regarding the rights and interests of bidding for colleges and universities, Order No.26 of the Ministry of Education emphasizes that intangible assets such as school name and intellectual property invested by ordinary colleges and universities in independent colleges can get reasonable returns from the school balance of independent colleges in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Promotion of Private Education and its implementing regulations; Independent colleges use the management resources, teachers, courses and other educational and teaching resources of ordinary universities, and their related expenses should also be included in the running cost of independent colleges in accordance with the agreement between the two parties or the relevant provisions of the state. Fourth, regarding the rights and interests of the organizers, Decree No.26 of the Ministry of Education clearly stipulates that social organizations or individuals involved in the establishment of independent colleges, like ordinary colleges and universities, are one of the organizers of independent colleges; Investors in independent colleges can get reasonable returns from the school balance of independent colleges according to law. These regulations better answer the core question of whether and how the organizers of independent colleges can get a "reasonable return", which is conducive to attracting more social resources to invest in private higher education. 2. "Turning to private colleges and universities" is the fundamental way out. The Ministry of Education's Order No.26 is not a special policy for existing independent colleges, but a standard and management method for holding new independent colleges in the future. However, in the Supplementary Provisions, Decree 26 of the Ministry of Education still puts forward a five-year inspection and acceptance period for more than 300 independent colleges that have been established. During this period, independent colleges will face five choices: either continue to run schools in the form of independent colleges, or "return" to bid for ordinary colleges, or turn into private colleges, or merge with other private colleges, or be disqualified from running schools. Among them, for those independent colleges with private capital as the main body, the Ministry of Education will promote their gradual transformation into independent private universities. This is not only the value orientation of the national macro policy, but also the inevitable choice for the survival and development of most independent colleges. In fact, due to the obvious advantages of independent colleges as the starting point of undergraduate courses, they should become the "incubator" of private ordinary undergraduate colleges in China. Prior to this, China only approved the establishment of 27 private colleges and universities. June 5438+October 2008 10, the Ministry of Education approved four independent colleges to be transformed into private undergraduate colleges at one time. In June 2009, another independent college was successfully transformed, and its strength was rare. 3. We should use the standards set by ordinary colleges and universities to guide the "transfer" work. At present, the five-year transition period stipulated by the Ministry of Education has passed 1/5. We must make good preparations for inspection and acceptance in accordance with the unified deployment of the country and the development requirements of independent colleges. Therefore, we must carefully interpret the relevant policies and regulations, and strive to smoothly realize the "transfer" from independent colleges to private colleges and universities within the prescribed time limit. As early as 2006, the Opinions on the Establishment of Ordinary Colleges and Universities during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (J.F. [2006] 17) issued by the Ministry of Education has clearly stated that "independent colleges can be gradually transformed into independent private ordinary colleges and universities according to the establishment procedures of ordinary colleges and universities." Therefore, the Ministry of Education issued the Interim Provisions on the Establishment of Ordinary Undergraduate Schools (J.F. [2006] 18), which set clear requirements for the establishment standards of ordinary colleges and universities. In 2008, the Ministry of Education issued "Order No.26", which further put forward the establishment standards and management methods of independent colleges, which is not only the basis for the state to carry out inspection and acceptance, but also the direction of independent colleges' own development. According to the special requirements of the "transfer" work, we should pay special attention to three provisions: first, the requirements for setting standards for ordinary colleges and universities, including school scale, discipline and specialty setting, teaching staff, teaching and scientific research level, infrastructure, school funds and leadership team; Two, the name of the school must be based on personnel training objectives, school level, type, discipline, teaching and research level, scale, leadership system, location, etc. to determine. Third, the application procedure for "transfer" should be entrusted by the school administrative department and invite relevant departments and experts such as planning, talent, labor and personnel, finance and infrastructure. Conduct investigation and demonstration, put forward a demonstration report and report it to the Ministry of Education for approval. During this period, independent colleges must strive to improve the conditions of running schools within a limited time, especially to strengthen the construction of infrastructure and teaching staff. At the same time, according to the school's development goals and personnel training requirements, we should actively adjust the professional settings, improve the teaching plan, teaching norms and teaching management system, and strive to make all school conditions meet the basic requirements of private colleges and universities.