World-class higher education and the emerging Chinese model of the university
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the emerging Chinese model of the university, considering its key features and contributions to global communities, and examined the institutional initiatives and government agendas involved in China's drive for global status.
Abstract: China’s recent quest to develop world-class universities is a significant phenomenon within the worldwide transformation of tertiary education. Taking a cultural approach and drawing on empirical findings, this article investigates the emerging Chinese model of the university, considering its key features and contributions to global communities. First, examining the rhetoric about world-class universities in varied societal contexts, it explores the institutional initiatives and government agendas involved in China’s drive for global status. Then, using case studies of three universities moving toward mass higher education and world-class status, it shows the role played by their individual institutional initiative. It next describes key features of the emerging Chinese model of the university, including the core values of self-mastery and intellectual freedom, to show how it differs from the dominant Anglo-Saxon and American models but shares some features with the continental European and Japanese models of the university. The final section considers policy implications of the emerging Chinese model, its potential lessons for reform and practice, and its role in fostering vibrant democracies and global dialogue among civilizations in the future.
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: The New Flagship University: Changing the Paradigm from Global Ranking to National Relevancy as mentioned in this paper proposes a more comprehensive and nuanced model for achieving excellence, which he identifies in the title of his latest book.
Abstract: Palgrave Macmillan 2016 217 pages Hardcopy ISBN: 978-1-137-50048-9 Reviewed by Karen Merritt SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY, higher education has seen an upsurge in global ranking systems that claim to identify the world's best universities. Countries ranging from Japan, China, and Russia to Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam have set goals at the governmental level for placing and strengthening their own most competitive universities in those rankings. It is now a truism that to compete in what Clark Kerr in the 1960s presciently labeled the "knowledge industry," having one or more world-class universities is of the essence. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Historian John Douglass, a senior research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley's Center for Studies in Higher Education, presents this picture with the aim of critiquing its limitations. In its place, he offers the characteristics of a more comprehensive and nuanced model for achieving excellence, which he identifies in the title of his latest book: The New Flagship University: Changing the Paradigm from Global Ranking to National Relevancy. With an ambitious goal of influencing the international discussion of what constitutes excellence in higher education, Douglass offers an amplified vision that builds on what public flagship universities have traditionally been: home to the best students and faculty; recipients of the most robust state funding to support a tripartite mission of research, teaching, and public service; and possessed of the prestige that comes with an outstanding history of research accomplishments and contributions to social mobility, national leadership, and societal development. Douglass makes a special appeal to ministries of education to consider the "new flagship model" as a superior pathway to excellence in their countries. In keeping with the international scope of the book, his descriptive dissection of the constituent elements that make up the new flagship university is followed by commentaries from experts on higher education in Asia, South America, Scandinavia, and Russia. The commentaries critique the model from the perspective of each region's higher education history, culture, and goals for the future. Harvard University's Manja Klemencic concludes the book with questions yet to be resolved in the model. The core of the book presents a brief history of the flagship university and analyzes an expanded list of elements that constitute the ideal for the future. Douglass buttresses his analyses with snapshots of best practices drawn from a range of universities together with summary tables and graphic representations of how the elements interact. The issue of quality in undergraduate education represents one of the features of the model that has eluded easy measurement, yet is a sine qua non. Douglass brings to bear his insights as founder of the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) survey, which is conducted annually by a coalition of University of California campuses, AAU institutions, and research universities in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. …
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report on a study which considers factors relating to the rise of the Doctor of Education in three different countries: Australia, China and Iceland, and aim to contribute to the growing interests of these new genres of studies at the doctoral level.
Abstract: Doctoral education is going through a period of transition. This transition is evident in the many varieties of doctoral degrees currently offered in higher education institutions worldwide, from the traditional research-based Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) to the Professional Doctorate and the New Route PhD. This article reports on a study which considers factors relating to the rise of the Doctor of Education in three different countries: Australia, China and Iceland. The emergence of professional doctorates worldwide is having a significant impact on the status and structure of traditional research-based PhDs. This scenario has implications for the changing roles of academics and students in the so-called knowledge economy and suggests an agenda for research in the field of professional doctorates. The present study aims to contribute to the growing interests of these new genres of studies at the doctoral level.
52 citations
Cites background from "World-class higher education and th..."
...The ‘massification initiative’ dramatically increased the provision of higher education in China from the 1990s onwards (Li 2012, 334) and currently there are plans to increase the proportion of an age group entering higher education from 25% to 40% (Douglass 2012, 645)....
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...The increase in numbers of students has taken place in conjunction with a series of strategic mergers, which had by 2000 brought the number of institutions down from 490 to 204 (Li 2012, 328)....
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...…on a centuries-long scholarly tradition in China, its universities have also been influenced by Western educational systems over the past century (Li 2012, 321) – systems whose focus on independent thought and critical analysis is not an easy fit with the Chinese ‘deference to hierarchy and…...
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TL;DR: Based on the author's long-standing professional observation and recent empirical studies, the authors assesses China's higher education development, with a particular focus on the challenges brought forward by academic culture.
Abstract: During the past three and a half decades, China has been progressing in higher education in a surprisingly dramatic manner, evidenced especially by scientific publications and sheer numbers of graduates. Such a fact has national, regional and global implications. China’s higher education development and its future directions are now placed highly on the research agendas of many from various parts of the world. Unlike the general acknowledgment of China’s achievements, assessment of the future development of China’s higher education is wide open to question. To some, Chinese universities are on a trajectory to become “world-class” and China’s high-fliers challenge Western supremacy. To others, China’s notion of “world-class” status has been largely imitative. Pumping resources into universities will only lead to diminishing returns as Chinese culture and practices will act as a brake to the pursuit of academic excellence. An increasing deal of attention has been paid to where China will be located in a global higher education landscape and in what shape. Based on the author’s long-standing professional observation and recent empirical studies, this article assesses China’s higher education development, with a particular focus on the challenges brought forward by academic culture. It interrogates China’s pride of the idea that Chinese universities are not willing to assume that Western models define excellence, and asks how far Chinese universities could move within their current development model.
35 citations
Cites background from "World-class higher education and th..."
...Debates have started over whether or not there might be an emerging Chinese model of the university (Zha, 2011; Li, 2012; Postilione, 2015)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on how research assessment exercises have reconfigured the institutional missions of the university in terms of knowledge production, teaching, and service address, by comparing three top research-intensive universities in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Japan.
32 citations
22 Mar 2019
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the complexity and dynamism of three policy streams, i.e., basic education, teacher education and higher education, and concluded from the literature review that central to China's key policy actions in recent decades are four core themes, namely, equality in terms of a democratic mission of education for every citizen, quality and efficiency as a national priority based on practicality.
Abstract: Recently China has miraculously transformed itself from a learner in the 20th century to a re-rising leader of educational excellence. The enduring policy endeavors over the past few decades have largely enabled China as the largest educational system in the world move to a recently emerging status as a global leader of educational improvement, recognized and appreciated with admiration by many traditionally advanced countries. The two authors intend to offer a snapshot of the China miracle of educational development in terms of public policies since the turn of the 21st century. With a Multi-Flows Approach constructed from Csikszentmihalyi’s idea of “flow”, this paper investigates the complexity and dynamism of three policy streams, i.e., basic education, teacher education and higher education. It is concluded from the literature review that central to China’s key policy actions in recent decades are four core themes, i.e., equality in terms of a democratic mission of education for every citizen, quality in terms of individual and social productivity, efficiency as a national priority based on practicality, and rejuvenation of the state for nation-building and global status. Educational policy development in China since the new century is thus examined with economic, political, cultural and international flows, each presenting a colorful jigsaw puzzle that is not easily tessellated by other flows. The authors argue that the different focus of flows and beyond can benefit policy communities in the world with varied directions for educational change resulting in significant improvement while none of them should be seen as a single force in solely shaping educational policy development without the convergence of other forces. This implies that for any public policy in education policymakers, implementers and other stakeholders must ensure a comprehensive consideration of the interdependent, converging effects of these forces to prioritize and maximize their outcomes, which may be easily missed by any single force of them. The implications from this paper sheds new light on policy studies in education in China and globally, and the learner-provider dynamism of educational development in a post-colonial context.
30 citations
References
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TL;DR: Clark identifies the basic elements common to all such systems, and proceeds to thematic comparisons among a number of countries as mentioned in this paper, and concludes that they can be classified into three broad categories.
Abstract: How can we compare national systems of higher education, since their organization varies from country to country? Clark identifies the basic elements common to all such systems, and proceeds to thematic comparisons among a number of countries.
1,921 citations
1,694 citations
"World-class higher education and th..." refers methods in this paper
...I use Weber’s (1948) concept of the ideal type to identify the core values of institutional self-mastery and intellectual freedom; they stand in contrast to the autonomy and academic freedom of the European university....
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Book•
01 Jan 1963
TL;DR: The idea of a multiversity the realities of the federal grant university the future of the city of intellect reconsiderations after the revolts of the 1960s attempted reforms that failed commentaries on the golden age of the research university a new age? - from increasing federal riches to increasing state poverty hard choices.
Abstract: The idea of a multiversity the realities of the federal grant university the future of the city of intellect reconsiderations after the revolts of the 1960s attempted reforms that failed commentaries on the golden age of the research university a new age? - from increasing federal riches to increasing state poverty hard choices.
1,202 citations