Higher Education Expansion in China: Origins and Potential

Consequences

Yingyi Ma, Ph.D.Sarah Miraglia, Ph.D. CandidateAssistant Professor in Sociology

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public AffairsSyracuse University Syracuse NY U.S.A

Overview

• Introduction

• Research Questions

• Origins of expansion in China

• Mass higher education features—American case

• Potential Consequences of expansion in China

Introduction

• Unprecedented higher education expansion in China

• Starts from the end of the 20th century

• China now has the largest higher education enrollment in the world

Recent Development of Higher Education Expansion in China

Enrollment Statistics of Higher Education Institutions in China*

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Enrollment 643 743.2 939.9 1214.4 1600 1900 2000 2300 Statistics from China Ministry of Education

*numbers are in ten thousand

Enrollment Rate of College Age Cohort

enrollment 2002 2003 2004 2005

rate 15% 17% 19% 21%

Theory on Stages of Higher Education Expansion

• American sociologist Martin Trow develops the three-stage theory of higher education expansion (1973)– Elite stage, with enrollment rate of college age cohort

less than 15%– Mass stage, with enrollment rate between 15% to

50%– Universal stage, with enrollment rate above 50%

• Trend: universal higher education—everybody can go to college!

Massification of Higher Education

• The process of introducing mass higher education enterprise is called massification (Altbach 1999)

• China now is witnessing the massification of higher education.

Research Questions

• What are the origins of the unprecedented higher education expansion in China?

• What are the potential consequences of such expansion?

In particular,

• In the process of massification, a significant question often emerges: will or should our higher education institutions be more or less alike? In other words, the massification of higher education will lead to the trend of institutional uniformity or differentiation?

Higher Education Expansion Origins in China

• Transition from planned economy to market economy

• Global trend of transitioning from elite higher education to mass higher education

Transition from Planned Economy to Market Economy

Under Planned EconomySoviet model of highly centralized and

specialized higher education leads to departmentalization and over-specialization

Under Market EconomyHigher education institutions are pushed to be

more flexible, adaptive and responsive to market needs

Transition from Planned Economy to Market Economy

The re-emergence of private higher education1952, higher education institutions were all

converted to public sector;1993, the Provisional Stipulations for the

Establishment of Minban Higher Education Institutions

Transition from Planned Economy to Market Economy

Higher earning power to finance higher education on the part of individual studentsHigher education is free to students under

planned economyNow tuition and fees paid by students has

contributed to 20% of expense

Higher Education Expansion Origins in China

Mass higher education--global trendIndividual and society’s needs for higher

educationIndustrial societies achieve mass higher

education in chronological order:• U.S: 1950s• Japan: late 1960s• Taiwan: early 1970s• South Korea: early 1980s

Differences between Elite and Mass Higher Education

Elite Higher Education Mass Higher Education Restricted admission = privilege Admission seen as a right Students enter from schools that prepared them for college

Students enter from public high schools, careers, and/or after having children

Homogenous student population Heterogeneous student population Higher academic standards Decreasing academic standards College is seen as a full time endeavor; college is set off from the environment

College is taken part-time; the campus is less of a factor in the students life

Good relationships with teachers Poorer relationships with teachers *Adapted from Trow (1976)

In sum, the core of this theory highlights

• Mass higher education generates skilled labor at mass level

• Mass higher education serves diverse groups of people with distinct needs and talents.

• Mass higher education calls forth a differentiated structure that includes various types of institutions enrolling students from different backgrounds with distinct needs.

In other words,

• Mass higher education calls forth institutional diversity, both between institutions, and within institutions– Between institutional diversity: various types

of institutions with distinct functions and goals– Within institutional diversity: the same

institution serve different types of students with various purposes of their studies

Institutional Diversity—American Case

• Various types of institutions– Public vs. private (25% enrollment rate)– Two year vs. four year

• Multiuniversity (Clark 1976, Ruth 1999)– One major university that serves different

groups of students with diverse interests and talents.

Institutional Diversity—the Role of Community College in American Higher

Education

• Community college—American invention that makes college accessible virtually to every one

• Role of community college– provide vocational training– serve students not going to 4-year college, for various

reasons (academic or financial or personal…)

The Importance of Regional Higher Education Institutions

• American community colleges and regional universities are engines of growth for regional development

• Regional institutions intend to serve local community

• Cost is reduced for students attending regional institutions

• Labor market is in balance among localities and metro areas.

Potential Problems/ Consequences of Higher Education

Expansion in China• Inequality in regional development of

higher education

• Educated unemployed– Chinese labor market is highly segmented– Higher education expansion produces an

oversupply for high-end labor market

• Financial burdens on individual students and their family

Potential Problems/Consequences

• Equity issues– Higher education is viewed more as private good, and

individual student and their families are responsible for the substantial cost of their education

– Financing, such as student loans, are under-developed in China

– The major inequality factor in Chinese society is rural-urban divide

– Large sectors of rural students and urban poor are having difficulty in accessing higher education

Policy Implications

• Expand more on vocational and short-term higher education institutions, with the eye to train skilled labor for local labor market.

• Spread higher education resources from highly-concentrated major metropolitan and coastal cities to inland areas

• Provide more efficient higher education financing to students in need