Building a “Double First-class University” on China's Qing-Zang Plateau: Opportunities, Strategies and Challenges

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Miaoyan Yang ◽  
James Leibold

Abstract Situated in the broader context of educational aid for Tibet and higher education reform in China, this article examines efforts to develop higher education in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Based on document analyses, observations and interviews, we interrogate the thoughts and actions of university officials in the TAR when responding to the state's call for the creation of “double first-class” (shuangyiliu 双一流) universities and disciplines. Our study identifies two main strategies adopted by university officials: capitalizing on the plateau's unique geography and China's system of preferential ethnic policies. University administrators hope to use the TAR's unique and strategic location as a springboard for curriculum and research development, while drawing on aid and assistance from the central government and partner universities. We conclude that the future of higher education in the TAR is highly dependent on external assistance and that the region faces an uphill battle in building a truly world-class university.

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 629-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Oba

For a very long time the Japanese government concentrated its higher education investment on a handful of national institutions, until the policy came to be called into question in the late 1980s in the face of globalisation and other factors. Higher education reform was significantly accelerated in the 1990s: the government has continuously deregulated the higher education system including the incorporation of national universities, and has brought more and more competition through diverse competitive funding schemes. Some policies – not only higher education policies but also science and technology ones – were explicitly designed to develop ‘world-class’ education and research centres, such as the 21st COE programme. This article suggests that although a funding policy based on competition, with a strict evaluation, seems to be a move in the right direction, a right balance of budget allocation between competitive funds and basic education-research funds should be sought. Furthermore, the programmes of the government have to be offered in a more consistent manner, and more concerted and integrated efforts will be required, to address the critical problem of building world-class universities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanaa Ouda Khadri Ahmed

In the past decade, the term “world-class university (WCU)” - also called “globally competitive universities”, “world-class”, “elite”, or “flagship” universities- has become a catch phrase. This is simply not only for improving the quality of learning and research in higher education, but is also more significant for developing the competency to compete in the global higher education marketplace through the acquisition and formation of advanced knowledge. The main objective of this paper is to propose strategic alternatives for transforming public Egyptian universities to world-class universities. In achieving this objective, the paper starts by attempting to construct an operational definition of a world-class university. Then, it outlines the features of world-class university, the requirements for transformation into world-class universities, the challenges involved in achieving world-class universities, and the key problems and challenges of the Egyptian higher education system. Finally, the selected statistical population of the research include higher education experts [N=57]. Thus, a mix method of using a questionnaire and conducting interviews were used. The research questions are: 1- What does it mean for a university to be a world-class university? 2-What are the essential features and characteristics of a world-class university? 3-How does the ecosystem influence the performance of universities? 4-What are the present performance, problems, and challenges of the Egyptian higher education system? 5-What are the higher education reform initiatives in Egypt? 6-What are the requirements that could upgrade public Egyptian universities to world-class universities? 7- What are the existing challenges of developing world-class universities? 8-What strategic alternatives have been developed for transforming public Egyptian universities to world-class universities? Therefore, one-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test was used to analyze the data. In addition, the result obtained in the study shows the use of collaborative strategic alternative rather than to upgrade the present Public universities, or create or merge them together.


2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Braun ◽  
Bernhard Leidner

This article contributes to the conceptual and empirical distinction between (the assessment of) appraisals of teaching behavior and (the assessment of) self-reported competence acquirement within academic course evaluation. The Bologna Process, the current higher-education reform in Europe, emphasizes education aimed toward vocationally oriented competences and demands the certification of acquired competences. Currently available evaluation questionnaires measure the students’ satisfaction with a lecturer’s behavior, whereas the “Evaluation in Higher Education: Self-Assessed Competences” (HEsaCom) measures the students’ personal benefit in terms of competences. In a sample of 1403 German students, we administered a scale of satisfaction with teaching behavior and the German version of the HEsaCom at the same time. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the estimated correlations between the various scales of self-rated competences and teaching behavior appraisals were moderate to strong, yet the constructs were shown to be empirically distinct. We conclude that the self-rated gains in competences are distinct from satisfaction with course and instructor. In line with the higher education reform, self-reported gains in competences are an important aspect of academic course evaluation, which should be taken into account in the future and might be able to restructure the view of “quality of higher education.” The English version of the HEsaCom is presented in the Appendix .


Author(s):  
R.V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar

This chapter outlines the exceptional composition of the landmark Kothari Commission, and its blend of idealism and realism. It offers a succinct account of the recommendations of the Kothari Commission, and the ferocious opposition to its recommendations regarding elementary and higher education, language policy, and the establishment of world class universities. It presents a candid critique of its recommendation that has become a hardy perennial of Indian educational discourse, namely that Government allocate at least 6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to education. It gives a crisp account of Independent India’s first National Policy on Education (1968). It also outlines the Constitutional Amendment of 1978 which made education a ‘concurrent subject’, and the educational initiatives of the short lived Janata Government (1976–8), India’s first non-Congress Party Central Government. It also outlines the key role played by J.P Naik in the Kothari Commission and Janata Government and evolution of his thinking.


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