Issues in the expansion of higher education in the People's Republic of China

China Review

Volumn 5, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 33-59

  Levin, Henry M ^a   Xu, Zeyu ^b  

^a Columbia University ^*  (United States)

^b AMERICAN INSTITUTES FOR RESEARCH   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 27744554314     PISSN: 16802012     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (59)

1. For an analysis in a more stable situation, see H. M. Levin, "Raising Productivity in Higher Education," Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 62, No. 3 (January 1991), pp. 241-62.
2. Weifang Min, Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Challenges: The Case of Chinese Universities, mimeo (Beijing University, 2005).
3. D. Yang, Higher Education of China (China Education and Research Network [CERNET], 2001). Available: http://www.edu.cn/20010827/208329 [2003, 01/ 16].
4. Higher education development during this period was interrupted by two mass social movements: the "Great Leap Forward" (1958-1960) and the 10-year "Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976). During the "Great Leap Forward" the Chinese higher education system saw a period of hectic expansion, with the number of higher education institutions increasing from 229 to 1,289 in three years. By 1965, the system was back on track after difficult system reorganization. But in the following years the "Cultural Revolution" struck. This disrupted higher education again, negated almost everything existing in the higher education system, and reduced total enrolments by about 14 times. See Min (Note 2) Higher education development during this period was interrupted by two mass social movements: the "Great Leap Forward" (1958-1960) and the 10-year "Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976). During the "Great Leap Forward" the Chinese higher education system saw a period of hectic expansion, with the number of higher education institutions increasing from 229 to 1,289 in three years. By 1965, the system was back on track after difficult system reorganization. But in the following years the "Cultural Revolution" struck. This disrupted higher education again, negated almost everything existing in the higher education system, and reduced total enrolments by about 14 times. See Min (Note 2)
5. See Min (Note 2).
6. See Yang (Note 3).
7. Weifang Min, "Global Challenges and the Chinese Response," in Higher Education in the 21st Century, edited by Philip Altbach and Patti McGill Peterson (New York, NY: Institute of International Education and Council on International Exchange of Scholars, 1999), pp. 11-17.
8. Ministry of Education, List of People-run Regular Higher Education Institutions, (2003). Available: http://www.moe.edu.cn/highedu/gxtz/ mbgx_20030121.htm [2003, 01/16].
9. Ministry of Education, 2001 Statistical Report on National Educational Development (2002). Available: http://www.moe.edu.cn [2003, 01/16].
10. The latest information from the 2003 National Regular Higher Education Admission Affairs Conference has raised the 2010 goal of gross enrolment ratio to 23%. Ministry of Education, 2000 Statistical Report on National Educational Development (2001). Available: http://www.moe.edu.cn [2003, 1/16].
11. See National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, The Condition of Education 2002, NCES 2002-025 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2002), pp. 130 and 131. The rate of enrolment of the 18-24 year age group was about 31%.
12. Ministry of Education, abstracts from "The Education Goals of the 10th Five-Year Plan," Continuing Education, Vol. 5 (2001), pp. 15-18.
13. For more discussions, see Ruth Hayhoe and Qiang Zha, "Becoming World Class: Chinese Universities Facing Globalization and Internationalization," Harvard China Review, Vol. 5, Issue 1 (2004), pp. 87-92.
14. J. Liu, "Women Ii shijie daxue haiyou duoyuan" (How Far Are We Away from World-Class Universities), Zhongguo jiaoyu bao (China Education Daily), 12 March 2002, p. 1.
15. It is not clear whether these numbers taken from the statistical yearbooks have been adjusted for inflation. However, from the early 1990s up to today, China has been experiencing slight deflation. Ministry of Education, Statistical Report on Educational Expenditures of Regular Higher Education Institutions (2001). Available: http:// www.moe.edu.cn/Stat/index.htm [2003, 1/17].
16. Min (Note 2).
17. Zhongguo jiaoyu tongji nianjian (Educational Statistics Yearbook of China) (Beijing: People's Education Press, 2001).
18. Ministry of Education, 2000 Ranking of Science and Technology-Related Activities in National Key Universities (2002). Available: http://www. cer.net [2003, 1/16].
19. Ministry of Education, 1999 Statistical Report on National Educational Development (2000). Available: http://www.moe.edu.cn [2003, 1/16].
20. Educational Statistics Yearbook of China, 2001.
21. See www.ucla.edu.
22. R. G. Ehrenberg and L. Zhang, "Do Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty Matter?" Cornell Higher Education Research Institute Working Paper 53 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 2004).
23. E. Bettinger and B. T. Long, Do College Instructors Matter: The Effects of Adjuncts and Graduate Assistants on Students' Interests and Success. NBER Working Paper No. W10370 (Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2004).
24. J. R. Behrman, M. R. Rosenzweig and P. Taubman, "College Choice and Wages: Estimates Using Data on Female Twins," The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 78, No. 4, (1996), pp. 672-85.
25. H. Wang, "Jiaru shimao dui Zhongguo jiaoyu shichang de yingxiang" (Influence of the WTO on the Chinese Education Market), Higher Education (Gaodeng Jiaoyu), Vol. 1 (2003), pp. 46-49.
26. R. G. Ehrenberg, M. Rizzo and G. H. Jakubson, "Who Bears the Growing Cost of Science at Universities?" Cornell Higher Education Research Institute Working Paper 35 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 2003).
27. S. A. Clark and R. F. Larson, "Mobility, Productivity, and Inbreeding at Small Colleges: A Comparative Study," Sociology of Education, Vol. 45, No. 4 (1972), pp. 426-34.
28. Ministry of Education (Note 19).
29. Ministry of Education. On Personnel Adjustment (1999). Available: http://www.moe.edu.cn [2003, 1/20].
30. Reporting the autumn 2001 ratio of full-time equivalent students (full-time plus 1/3 part time) to full-time equivalent instructional faculty (full time plus 1/3 part time). Excluded from the ratio calculations, are both faculty and students in stand-alone graduate or professional programmes such as medicine, law, veterinary science, dentistry, social work, business, or public health, in which faculty teach virtually only graduate level students. Undergraduate or graduate student teaching assistants do not count as faculty (UCLA Common Data Set 2001-02). Available: http://www.apb.ucla.edu/apbtoc.htm.
31. Educational Statistical Yearbook of China, 2001.
32. S. Liu, "Over-expansion of Higher Education Is Not Desirable," Higher Education Studies, Vol. 1 (1998), pp. 61-64.
33. Min (Note 2).
34. UCLA "Common Data Set 01-02," http://www.apb.ucla.edu/ apbtoc.htm.
35. W. Ma, "Kuozhao hou gaodeng xuexiao jiaoxue zhiliang zhuangkuang fenxi" (Analysis of Teaching Quality of Institutions of Higher Learning after Enrolment Expansion), Higher Education, No. 2 (2003), pp. 21-26.
36. D. Wen, "Gaodeng jiaoyu guimo kuozhan yu biyesheng jiuye" (Higher Education Expansion and College Graduates Employment), Higher Education Exploration (Gaojiao Tansuo), Vol. 4 (2000), pp. 30-33.
37. S. Jiang, "Woguo gaoxiao biyesheng jiuye wenti de chengyin yanjiu" (An Economical Model for the Explanation of Graduate Unemployment), Tsinghua Journal of Education (Qinghua Daxue Jiaoyu Yanjiu), Vol. 25, No. 4 (2004), pp. 57-63.
38. Ibid.
39. Min (Note 7).
40. The World Bank, Strategic Goals for Chinese Education in the 21st Century (Washington, DC: The World Bank, 1999)
41. An interesting comparative perspective is provided by what Philip Altbach calls the University of Buenos Aires model, where the university successfully "absorbs demand" [for higher education] at the same time that it dampens potential social unrest by offering young people the widest possible access to higher education, although very few eventually earn a degree (see a discussion at http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/ avp/soe/cihe/index.html).
42. Ma (Note 35).
43. The literature on general and specific human capital is applied to the field of workplace training studies. Some of the recent studies include: E. Leuven, "Studies in the Economics of Training" (Doctoral dissertation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 2001);
44. P. Cappelli, Why Do Employers Pay for College? NBER Working Paper No. W9225 (Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2002)
45. Min (Note).
46. M. Tsang and W. Min, "Expansion, Efficiency, and Economics of Scale of Higher Education in China," Higher Education Policy, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1992), pp. 61-66.
47. The World Bank, "Financing Higher Education: Diversification of Resources," China Higher Education Reform (Washington, DC: The World Bank, 1997)
48. and The World Bank (Note 40).
49. Tsang and Min (Note 45).
50. Liu (Note 32).
51. Min (Note 2).
52. Min (Note 7).
53. J. Heckman, China's Investment in Human Capital. NBER Working Paper Series, 9296 (Cambridge MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2002).
54. Min (Note 7).
55. The World Bank, 1997 (Note 45).
56. M. Tsang and Y. Ding, "Financial Challenges in Compulsory Education and Intergovernmental Education Grants," Peking University Education Review (Beijing Daxue Jiaoyu Pinglun), Vol. 1, No. 1 (2003), pp. 84-94.
57. Ibid.
58. For example, D. Wen, "A Comparative Study of the Scale and Structure of Leading Universities in the US and China," China Higher Education Research (Zhongguo Gaojiao Yanjiu), Vol. 6 (2002), pp. 46-47.
59. For further details, see Steven Koblik and Stephen R. Graubard (eds.), Distinctively American: The Residential Liberal Arts College (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2000).