Compelled to Compete: Chinese graduates on employment and social mobility after international and domestic study

The article offers unique insights into international and domestic graduates’ career progression and social mobility experiences in China. Drawing on in-depth interview data with master-level graduates, the analytical results reveal that the majority of the participants (both domestic and international) perceive that international graduates have more opportunities and better career progression, but the analytical results show that both domestic and international graduates secured positive employment outcomes. Significant gender disparities exist, as women, both international and domestic graduates, are still disadvantaged in terms of occupational attainment and career prospects and report lower employment satisfaction. All domestic graduates reported not only positive employment outcomes in the labour market but upward social mobility. In contrast, the majority of international graduates reported not having achieved the same level of social status as their parents. Graduates’ differentiated relations to China’s state institutions of Bianzhi, Danwei and Hukou and social connections (Guanxi) heavily influenced their employment trajectories and social mobility. We argue that the participants’ conflicting perceptions are linked to the intense labour market competition encouraged by the sustained expansion of domestic higher education enrolment and amplified by the increasing number of international graduates. The societal institutions defuse to some extent conflicts over economic interests arising from the marketisation of social life.     

University reform in the post-massification era in Japan: analysis of government education policy for the 21st century

Japanese higher education institutions have experienced major reforms in the 1990s. These reforms were voluntarily promoted by the universities, and were aimed at transforming research-oriented faculties, or research centered organizations, to teaching and student centered universities. However, at the turn of the millennium, a new reform movement emerged, more economic centered, more market conscious and more influenced by the policy shift toward deregulation. In the 21st century, Japanese higher education institutions will face retrenchment, post-massification, and globalization.This paper examines government higher education policy and Japanese higher education reform movements in the globalization and post-massification eras. First, issues surrounding Japanese higher education in an era of post-massification will be set out. Secondly, the direction of higher education policy will be examined and compared with the higher education policies of some Western countries. Finally, the impact of the policy shift toward higher education institutions and the existing structural problems around Japanese higher education will be analyzed.     

英国高等教育问责制及其启示

问责制是政府部门及社会机构或个人监督公立高校的一项重要手段,它在英国当前高等教育中发挥着重要作用。本文从三个方面对其解析:一是英国高校的利益相关者及其利益诉求;二是问责为高校带来的积极和消极影响;三是为克服其消极影响,PA管理咨询公司提出有效问责的四个原则及其实施效果。最后本文探讨了英国问责制对我国高等教育的借鉴和启示。     

用科学发展观正确分析近几年我国的高校扩招

从科学发展观看,1998年以来的高校扩招基本 上是正常的,是符合我国社会经济的发展和人民群众需求 的。冷静地、认真地分析我国高校扩招的实际状况,既要肯定 成绩,又要实事求是地找出存在问题,以便进一步完善和改 进,促进我国的教育事业和谐、健康地发展。     

Interrogating institutionalized establishments: urban–rural inequalities in China’s higher education

China’s urban–rural disparities are a fundamental source of China’s overall educational inequalities. This article addresses the issue with data collected through interviews with members at various Chinese higher education institutions. It interrogates China’s current policies together with the socio-political institutional arrangements that underlie them and assesses the effectiveness of existing schemes to support higher education students. Based on China’s experience, it challenges market transition theory’s claim and debates the classical economic theory which postulates that expansion of education will reduce inequality. Believing that the educational gap is only part of China’s urban–rural disparities, of which many resulted from social institutional arrangements, it calls for changes to established institutions and a reconsideration of the role of private financing mainly through tuition fees.     

The perceived impact of external evaluation: the system,organisation and individual levels—Estonian case

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of how the employees of higher education institutions perceive the impact of external evaluations. The study was conducted using the concurrent mixed method and involved 361 employees from Estonian universities and professional higher education institutions. The results indicated that evaluation is mostly deemed necessary at the levels of the organisation and the system; from the personal viewpoint of an employee, positive effects of external evaluations are perceived to a lesser degree. The negative influences mentioned were increased bureaucracy, extra work and stress. Top managers of institutions most often saw the positive influences from external evaluations since they help to implement reorganisations and development activities within an organisation. Managers perceived the positive effects of external evaluations on their everyday work as well, more than other employees did. Researchers felt the positive effects of external evaluations least. Nearly a quarter of all employees of higher education institutions do not perceive the effects of external evaluations on their everyday work at all. Employees of professional higher education institutions perceive the positive effects of external evaluations to a greater extent than employees of universities do, indicating that external evaluation has contributed to the development of their organisations. The differences in opinions of the employees of higher education institutions regarding perceived positive and negative impacts of external evaluations—whether on individual, organisation or system points of view—indicate that employees do not identify closely enough with the organisation and its strategic goals.     

Relationship quality in higher education marketing: the role of social media engagement

The landscape in consumer marketing is changing due to the rise in popularity of social media. This shift has also affected how higher education institutions build relationships with their stakeholders. This study explores how social media engagement impacts relationship quality between the university and one of its key stakeholder groups, students. Data were collected via an online survey and analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test, regression and the Kruskal–Wallis test. Results indicated a positive association between students following a university via social media and the perception of having a high-quality relationship with their university, and that following a university on multiple social media sites leads to an even higher perception of relationship quality. The results provide important and timely implications for both universities and higher education marketers. Our findings suggest that higher education marketers should invest resources in social media communications to form high-quality relationships with their stakeholders.     

家庭背景对我国高等教育机会及毕业生就业的影响

本文以全国性高校毕业生调查为基础,以父亲的职业地位和受教育程度作为衡量家庭背景的指标,分析了家庭背景对子女高考成绩、就读院校、毕业去向、就业收入等的影响,发现我国不同家庭背景子女接受高等教育的机会及受教育结果均有明显差异。文章还进一步分析了这种影响发生的机制。     

Indigenizing the Western concept of university: the Chinese experience

Modern universities are uniquely European in origin and characteristics. With the diffusion of the European model into the university throughout the world, the heritage of colonialism and the fact that contemporary universities are Western institutions without much linkage to their indigenous intellectual traditions are the fundamental reasons for the failure of non-Western societies to effectively establish their modern higher education systems. In China, the integration between the Chinese and Western ideas of a university remains unfinished despite many efforts to indigenize the Western concept since the nineteenth century. This article examines and compares the characteristics and development of medieval European universities and traditional Chinese higher learning institutions. In contrast to most existing studies on higher education, which have overwhelmingly portrayed the powerful influence of economic and political realities, this article adopts a cultural perspective on the development of Chinese higher education, calling for the return of culture in the analyses of higher education development and arguing that Chinese universities have considerably improved their hardware but not their software. In the current great leap forward of the Chinese higher education, attention to institutions and cultural establishments is usually absent.     

海峡两岸高校自主招生异同之比较

高校自主招生是我国目前社会关注的热点,而台湾实施的大学多元入学方案中,自主招生也是其中重要形式之一,它对台湾招考体制产生了重要影响。从自主招生的目的、规模、组织、报考流程、录取办法、招生监管体系等角度进行比较后,指出海峡两岸自主招生的异同,旨在从中得到启发,以推进我国高校自主招生朝着完善的方向发展。     

Can university qualification promote social mobility? A review of higher education expansion and graduate employment in China

Higher education expansion is expected to widen access to universities and promote social mobility, but evidence from the real world frequently contradicts this expectation, and China is no exception. Most empirical studies have been conducted on the relationship between social origins and education without considering studies on education and social destinations. As a result, relatively weak modifying measures are suggested without a panoramic view to inform structural changes. Inspired by the ‘positional competition’ observed by Mok, this study attempts to continue the exploration by constructing a dialogue between the two studies and look into the fluidity process across the two relationships to trace the determinants of social stratification in the country. Key findings include the following: 1) The education system is obligated to play a specific role in China depending on the governing theme of the regime, that is, the existing one prioritises economic growth but not social mobility. 2) Social elitist status in China is associated with an occupation in the public sector, the pursuit of which constitutes over-education among graduates. 3) The queuing model derived from the screening and signalling theory exercises explanatory power in the analysis of the public sector, whereas the thesis of human capital may still be illuminative in the private market. This study argues that, without addressing the state’s continual grip on commanding heights, which is a fundamental reason behind weak fluidity, future modifying measures to propel mobility may be fruitless.     

依托地方优势产业 创建特色高职院校——宁波服装职业技术学院办学实践的思考

高等职业教育是我国高等教育的重要组成部分。高职院校发展的优劣不在于学历层次高低 ,而在于能否产学高度结合 ,办出学校特色 ,取得优良办学效益。因此 ,对高职教育不能用学术型高校的标准来要求 ,而应开拓创新 ,建设各具特色的高职院校。宁波服装职业技术学院注重把握产业脉搏、引领服装时尚、融入服装产业、根植产业沃土 ,实现全方位产学一体化 ,形成了学院品牌和办学特色 ,取得了有益的经验。     

民国时期贵州社会教育探析

上个世纪前半叶的民国时期,在整个国家社会教育运动蓬勃发展之时,贵州的社会教育也开始了实施的进程,从通俗宣讲运动到民众教育运动,直至一系列社会教育实施机构的设立,在一定程度上取得了改造社会、教育民众、普及知识以及推动教育发展的成果,其教育思想和教育实践给后世留下了一笔宝贵的财富。     

Global influences and local responses: The restructuring of the University of Botswana, 1990–2000

The University of Botswana has not escaped the reform fever currently gripping higher education institutions the world-over. In the late 1980s the University initiated an administrative/management restructuring exercise whose resultant structure was implemented between 1998 and 2000. The exercise, in many respects, was a response to globalization. The emergence, in the past two decades, of a global economy, the massification of higher education, and the globalization of neo-liberal economic thinking have compelled universities to recast their social and economic missions. Consequently, universities have had to restructure within the framework of a global ideology characterized by an emphasis on effectiveness, quality and efficiency. This paper explicates the restructuring exercise at the University of Botswana by locating the exercise within its global and local contexts. It argues that while the resultant structure reflected global influences and trends, it was as much a product of local concerns.     

湖南地方高校教学质量管控体系新探

目前我国高等教育质量管控模式存在一系列问题,建设具有地方特色的湖南地方高校教学质量省级管控模式,教育行政部门应发挥主导作用,用法规约束学校办学、健全质量监控保障机构;树立多样化、特色化的教学质量观,为学生就业服务;创建以社会需求为导向的各项教学质量标准,加强高校自我监控,加大学生监控力度,建立科学的课堂教学评估指标体系;建立健全高校教学质量预警管理系统,编制质量监控与发展指数;建成有湖南特色的、与经济社会发展相适应的地方高校教育体系。     

海峡西岸经济区建设与福建高校人才培养路径的探究

海峡西岸经济区建设正全面推进,福建高等教育在海西建设过程中能否发挥重要作用,人才建设是关键。从高等教育人才培养对经济社会发展作用的机理出发,借鉴国内外高等教育促进经济社会发展的经验,剖析了福建高等教育与海峡西岸经济区建设适应性方面存在的问题及原因,提出了适应海峡西岸经济区建设的福建高校发展和人才培养之路。     

以科学发展观统领高校招生

没有良性的高校招生制度,我国高等学校培养的人才就难以在世界经济发展和竞争中取得优势,也就不可能真正实现中华民族的振兴和繁荣。正是基于学校招生对经济社会发展巨大作用的认识,以科学发展观统领高校招生,不仅具有现实意义,且具有深远的历史意义。     

社会转型期高校思想政治教育方法研究

随着社会主义市场经济的进一步发展,我国经济、政治、文化、社会进入了转型的关键时期。高校思想政治教育工作遇到了许多前所未有的新情况、新问题、新矛盾,其方式方法必须进行全方位的变革。     

Higher education and family background: Which really matters to individual’s socioeconomic status development in China

The study finds that the higher education and parents’ occupations both have a significant impact to individual’s social economic development measured by ISEI (International Socioeconomic Index), but higher education’s impact is greater. In addition, from 1980s to 2000s, the impact of higher education has been diminishing as the access to higher education increased significantly. Data also shows that certain sectors, such as government employees, Chinese Communist Party members, city/urban households, had a clear advantage. To our surprise, gender and minority status had no statistical difference in ISEI. Several policies were recommended to break the social stratification in the near future.     

高等教育治理的社会参与

随着高等教育在经济社会发展中地位的提升,社会参与高等教育治理的广度和深度也随之发生着正向变化,呈现出规律性的特征.扩大高等教育治理的社会参与,对于经济社会发展和国际竞争力提升具有重要基础性作用,对于国家行政管理体制改革和扩大基层民主具有重要基础性作用.促进高等教育治理的社会参与程度,实现高等教育良治,需要政府、社会和高等教育机构共同做出努力.