Abstract
Under the knowledge‐based economy, higher education plays an important role in cultivating talents and enhancing national competitiveness. Compared with other countries, China is a latecomer in the expansion of higher education but has undergone considerable transformation from elite to massification in a short time since 1998. Most important, China’s higher education expansion is not limited to the undergraduate level but includes junior college and postgraduate education. This dramatic development in higher education is also simultaneously affected by marketisation and decentralisation. Moreover, the unprecedented growth and achievements of the reform drew scholars’ attention to this inspired case of the consequences of educational expansion. However, few studies analyse higher education expansion policies. This study analyses educational policies since 1998 to understand how the move to mass higher education was achieved through marketisation and decentralisation with the strong control of the central government. Drawing on policy analyses, this study suggests that the higher education expansion in China exhibits the characteristics of the East Asian model, which is shaped by the strong nation‐state structure with instrumentalism.
摘要
在知識經濟時代，高等教育在培養人才和增強國家競爭力方面發揮著重要作用。與其他國家相比，中國是高等教育擴張的後起之秀。自1998年以來，中國的高等教育在短時間內經歷了從精英化到大眾化的重大轉變。並且，中國的高等教育擴張不僅限於本科，還包括大專和研究生教育，其迅速發展的同時也受到市場化和分權化的影響。學者們廣泛關注此空前的發展和成就帶來的影響，但少有研究分析高等教育擴張的政策。本研究分析了1998年以來中國的高等教育政策，以了解在中央政府的有力控制下，高等教育如何通過市場化和分權化實現向大眾化的轉變。基於政策分析，本研究表明，中國的高等教育擴張具有東亞模式的特徵，該模式由強大的民族國家結構和工具主義所塑造。