Tertiary Education in Contemporary China

Author(s):  
Qiang Zha ◽  
Chuanyi Wang

Tertiary education in contemporary China (1990–) marks an era of reforms and expansion. In this period, the Chinese tertiary education sector struck the world with its ambitious moves that simultaneously push for rapid enrollment growth, constitute new governance structures, and seek to build world-class universities. Though some of the initiatives were started as early as in the mid-1980s when the Chinese government proclaimed reform programs in the education realm, these moves were forged intensively and extensively since the 1990s. The aggregate enrollment of the tertiary education sector grew from 3.4 million in 1998 (the year immediately before the latest expansion that aimed at having a mass system) to 38 million in 2017, increasing more than eleven times in less than twenty years. The number of institutions increased from 1,022 to 2,913 in the same time span, or by nearly three times. Now the Chinese tertiary education sector stands out as the world’s largest, and a majority of high school graduates in the country are able to continue their education and training at the tertiary level, which used to be a privilege for the very few. In the meantime, the Chinese government has been investing hugely in the elite university schemes (i.e., Projects 211 and 985) to raise some universities and programs to a world-class standing. Put together, tertiary education in contemporary China exhibited extraordinary changes in the past two decades, thus has attracted interest from researchers worldwide to study it. Against this backdrop, we have compiled this bibliographic text in the hope that it would provide a useful research instrument for scholars and students in the field. For this sake, we set up five criteria when selecting the bibliographical items: (i) frequency of citations (it is commonly perceived that solid works are more likely to be referenced and good for further references); (ii) reputation of the publisher or the journal (reputable publishers and journals arguably produce high-quality publications); (iii) status of the author(s) (active researchers in good standing always contribute a bulk of meritorious works in their own fields); (iv) scholarly awards and honors (the recipients of scholarly awards and honors often make outstanding publications in the field); and (v) nominations by scholars in the field (as a highly eclectic thematic area that draws vigor from a large array of scholarly pursuits, it is the field’s practitioners who are most knowledgeable about the remarkable works with respect to tertiary education in contemporary China). The last criterion may especially help identify recent and important works that don’t necessarily get high visibility/citations yet. Based on these criteria, we have collected slightly over two hundred journal articles and scholarly books, published in English or Chinese since 1990, with roughly equal emphasis on literature in either language.

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faten Karim ◽  
Giselle Rampersad

The main advantage of cloud computing is to reduce the IT cost. By using cloud computing, organisations do not have to set up an IT infrastructure, and instead are able to rent resources and give payment only for the using services. Even with the appealing of cloud computing benefits, it is still in infancy in developing countries due to many reasons. Technology adoption has been explored to a limited degree in developing countries, particularly in relation to cloud computing in the tertiary education sector. Existing studies have examined technology adoption in developed countries and to a lesser extent in developing countries in non-education contexts such as e-government. This paper contributes to the cloud computing adoption literature in developing countries, and specifically in Saudi Arabian universities. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 239 ◽  
pp. 702-727
Author(s):  
Hu Jian ◽  
Frank Mols

AbstractThe Chinese government has acknowledged that in order to turn Chinese universities into world class institutions, it will have to grant them a greater degree of autonomy. However, the reforms that have been introduced to achieve this goal run counter to a long tradition of central government oversight. The question now presenting itself is how much actual control government has devolved to universities. The qualitative evidence presented in this paper, obtained through interviews with university presidents and Party secretaries, not only confirms that, as one might expect, Chinese universities continue to operate “in the shadow of hierarchy,” but also and more importantly that formal efforts to devolve authority are being rendered ineffective by informal pressures and control mechanisms. Discussion reflects on the state of play in Chinese public administration studies, and urges public policy researchers examining devolution in China to account for both formal reforms and everyday “lived experiences.”


Author(s):  
Sunil Bhatia

This chapter describes how the transnationally oriented elite and upper-class urban Indian youth are negotiating their everyday experiences with globalization. It shows how the college-age elite youth psychologically imagine themselves as being world-class citizens not just by going abroad but also by reimagining new forms of Indianness through their active participation in specific cultural practices of watching American media, shopping at exclusive malls, and constructing emancipatory narratives of globalization. The transnational urban youth’s narratives are hybrid and are organized around an Indianness that is mobile, multicultural, connected to consumption practices, and crosses borders easily. Being a global Indian means displaying a kind of transnational cultural difference that has the right currency and credibility and that can be transported to other countries, where it is accepted as legitimate, valid, and as having a world-class standing. Selected parts of Indian culture can be adopted in their travels and study-abroad stints.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Weiss

Teylers Museum was founded in 1784 and soon thereafter became one of the most important centres of Dutch science. The Museum’s first director, Martinus van Marum, famously had the world’s largest electrostatic generator built and set up in Haarlem. This subsequently became the most prominent item in the Museum’s world-class, publicly accessible, and constantly growing collections. These comprised scientific instruments, mineralogical and palaeontological specimens, prints, drawings, paintings, and coins. Van Marum’s successors continued to uphold the institution’s prestige and use the collections for research purposes, while it was increasingly perceived as an art museum by the public. In the early twentieth century, the Nobel Prize laureate Hendrik Antoon Lorentz was appointed head of the scientific instrument collection and conducted experiments on the Museum’s premises. Showcasing Science: A History of Teylers Museum in the Nineteenth Century charts the history of Teylers Museum from its inception until Lorentz’ tenure. From the vantage point of the Museum’s scientific instrument collection, this book gives an analysis of the changing public role of Teylers Museum over the course of the nineteenth century.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Zhimin Liu ◽  
Gladys Mutinda

<p>Mass higher education is a huge force to be reckoned with and its existence, already in the expansion of tertiary institutions is undeniable. This study will focus on three countries: Lebanon, Kenya and Oman. The purpose of this study is to evaluate mass tertiary education progress in these countries. It will synthesize data results of gross enrollment ratios, demographics, internationalization and GDP per capita of these countries which we will use as indicators of the progress and direction that mass tertiary education is taking. The principal conclusions of our data will reveal that all 3 countries are experiencing progress only at different rates for varied and different reasons. The findings of this paper are significant as they will aid in informing the governments of the specific countries and other stakeholders who invest in higher education to understand the challenges hindering progress and ensuring that world class academic standards are upheld.</p>


Author(s):  
Andre J. Parker ◽  
Theo H. Veldsman

Orientation: World class implies being able to respond effectively to the prevailing business challenges in a manner that surpasses competitors and to compete effectively in the global economy.Research purpose: To assess the validity of the general assumption in the literature that world class criteria are equally applicable worldwide.Motivation for research: The possibility exists that developing countries require an adjusted mix of world class criteria and practices to become globally competitive.Research design, approach and method: A quantitative field survey research approach was adopted. A web-enabled questionnaire was designed, covering 35 world class practices grouped under 7 world class criteria. A cross-section of the senior management from 14 developing and 20 developed country’s organisations partook in the study.Main findings: It was empirically confirmed that the majority of world class practices posited in the literature are used by participating organisations; that world class criteria do not apply equally across developed and developing countries; and that more important than country location, is the deliberate choice by an organisation’s leadership to become world class. An empirically based model of ascending to world class was proposed.Practical/managerial implications: Regardless of country location, the leadership of an organisation can make their organisation world class by applying the proposed world class model.Contribution/value add: A reliable web enabled instrument was designed that can be used to assess an organisation’s world class standing; the assumption that world class criteria are equally valid across developing and developed countries was proven partially incorrect; since becoming or being world class is also a leadership choice regardless of location.


1980 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-109
Author(s):  
R. T. Phillips

Japanese interest in Hainan stemmed from the desire to emulate the success which they had achieved in Taiwan in an area further south which could offer a full range of tropical products for theuse of the Japanese economy. The naval importance of Hainan was also recognized, because it could dominate the South China Sea from the excellent harbour of San-ya ( Samah) Bay, and there were indications that the island was rich in minerals. The development of official Japanese interest in the island was largely the work of the governor-general's office in Taiwan. Thus in 1918 and 1919 an official from Taiwan called Kaku () was sent to Hainan to observe conditions under the title of special sales office head. In the 1920's the Taiwan government sponsored conferences o the South China Japanese consuls to discuss plans for the area, and in 1935 a conference was held production in the tropics, to coordinate research on the economy, production possibilities and culture of the tropical part of China.Meanwhile Chinese government interest in Hainan began to be aroused in the 1930's, culminating in the visit of T.V. Soong, one of the highest ministers of e Kuintang government, in 1936. Thereafter a rail route a west of the island was surveyed but no furthe progress was made. Private businessmen in the 1930's began to develop rubber plantations to join those set up with overseas Chinese capital in the 1910's,and there was a sharp rise in the area planted to sugar in 1936 as the price of sugar rose. Hence when war broke out between China and Japa,the possibilities for the development were just beginning to be explored.1


2016 ◽  
pp. 10-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Zha

China recently launched a new stage of world-class university campaign, and emphasized developing the “Chinese characteristics” this time. Arguably, global rankings remain the most powerful illustration of who can claim world-class standing, which in turn renders the “Chinese characteristics” in question. This article argues that China would benefit from a kind of explicit “Chinese standards” to help establish a clearer direction for higher education development in the country.


Author(s):  
Chinh Nguyen ◽  
Heather Davis ◽  
Geoff Sharrock ◽  
Kay Hempsall

MOOCs are a recent development, with little informed consensus on the extent of their future impact on tertiary education. In this paper the authors consider one application of open online courseware, as a platform for professional development within the tertiary sector, with an agreed pathway into award programs in tertiary education management. The case presented is a recently launched ‘emerging leaders and managers program (eLAMP)' for the Australian tertiary education sector. The pedagogical, resourcing and practical issues of designing and supporting this program are examined as a means of exploring the conceptual underpinnings of online technologies and pedagogies.


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