Cybernetic institutional management theory and practice: A system of flexible workload for university teachers

In the past three decades, higher education reforms have taken place almost everywhere in the world, and governance or the way that higher education is or should be coordinated has become a global topic. The governance reform in Chinese higher education emerged against such a background. The current studies on Chinese higher education reforms mainly tackle the reform processes and treat the Chinese government as the driver of the reforms, whereas how the Chinese government is susceptible to international pressures has remained under‐researched. This article examines the mechanisms that facilitate the spread of global governance reform ideologies in Chinese higher education through the Chinese government, drawing on the concept of institutional isomorphism. Based on analysing recent literature and documents, it concludes that the Chinese government is affected by the global reform ideas and practices that have been legitimatised through international organisations' rhetoric and other countries' successful experiences.     

Massifying and internationalising higher education,changing labour markets and social mobility: challenges for education and urban governance

ABSTRACT

The major objective of this introductory article is to set the wider policy context for the present special issue with a particular focus to examine how the massification and internationalisation of higher education has taken place in Asia. More specifically, this introduction highlights the major arguments of articles being adopted in this issue. The contributions have been selected and gathered from presentations in various regional and international research events held in the last few years. Having experienced the growing pressure for enhancing their global competitiveness, governments in Asia are determined to expand their higher education systems to provide more learning opportunities for addressing pressing educational demand, putting additional resources to internationalising student experience and raising the research profile in order to quest for regional education hub and world-class university status. However, the rapid expansion of higher education has indeed created more university graduates than the labour market could fully absorb. It has become problematic when the global market currently experiences economic stagnation. This special issue sets out against such a political economy context to examine issues related to changing labour conditions, youth mobility and challenges for education and urban governance.     

Public universities and the neoliberal common sense: seven iconoclastic theses

Neoliberalism has utterly failed as a viable model of economic development, yet the politics of culture associated with neoliberalism is still in force, becoming the new common sense shaping the role of government and education. This ‘common sense’ has become an ideology playing a major role in constructing hegemony as moral and intellectual leadership in contemporary societies. Neoliberal globalisation, predicated on the dominance of the market over the state and on deregulatory models of governance, has deeply affected the university in the context of ‘academic capitalism’. The resulting reforms, rationalised as advancing international competitiveness, have affected public universities in four primary areas: efficiency and accountability, accreditation and universalisation, international competitiveness and privatisation. There is also growing resistance to globalisation as top-down-imposed reforms reflected in the public debates about schooling reform, curriculum and instruction, teacher training and school governance. Many question whether neoliberal reforms attempt to limit the effectiveness of universities as sites of contestation of the national and global order and thus undermine the broader goals of education. Neoliberal reforms have limited access and opportunity along class and racial lines, including limiting access to higher education through the imposition of higher tuition and reduced government support to institutions and individuals.     

Implications of financing higher education for access and equity: The case of Syria

This article examines the implications for access and equity of the Syrian government’s efforts to reform higher education in the country over the past decade. In the context of social and economic reforms that are moving the county from a state-controlled to a social market economy, it focuses on adequacy in financing higher education, as well as efficiency and equity. Significant progress has been made in access to higher education. The government has introduced a rich variety of options for accessing higher education, resulting in a doubling of enrolled students over the past 10 years. In terms of equity, the gender gaps in higher education enrollment and completion have all but disappeared nationally, although regional variations persist. The study raises concerns about the system’s internal and external efficiency: despite some improvements, the quality of the curricula and their relevance for the labour market remain serious issues.     

Globalization or Glocalization? Higher Education Reforms in Singapore

Globalization and the evolution of the knowledge‐based economy have caused dramatic changes to the character and functions of higher education in most countries around the world. However, the impacts of globalization on universities are not uniform though business‐like practices have been adopted to cope with competition in the global marketplace. The pressure for restructuring and reforming higher education is mainly derived from growing expectations and demands of different stakeholders in society. In recent years, widespread concerns over widened access, funding, accountability, quality, and managerial efficiency are perceived as the prominent global trends related to university education. Because of the divergent political, social, economic, cultural and historical backgrounds, national/local governments may adopt similar strategies in response to pressures generated from globalization. Nonetheless, through a close scrutiny of the ways that national policies are made, we may find that governments around the globe, particularly in East Asia, have tried to make use of the globalization discourse to address/justify the local policy/political agendas. This paper aims to examine the latest higher education reform initiatives proposed by the Singapore Government, with particular reference to reflect upon how the Singapore Government reforms its university systems in the context of globalization. It is argued that the latest comprehensive review of public university governance and funding brings about a changing role of the government in the regulation, finance and provision of higher education in Singapore and eventually alters the state‐university relationship.     

新自由主义常识与全球性大学：高等教育中的知识商品化

知识是组织高等教育活动的基本材料和学术生活的基础。传统上作为公共产品的知识正在发生转向,其商品属性和交换价值趋于增强,成为兼具公共产品与私人产品性质的一种混合型产品。在高等教育领域,知识商品化具有多种表征形式,侵蚀了高等教育的公共性。本文结合哈贝马斯和布迪厄的理论框架,阐述了以下观点:知识的公共产品性质是高等教育的公益性、高校的公共形象和学术人的公共身份的基础,也是基础研究的核心价值观之一。坚持知识的公共产品性质,抵制知识商品化的消极影响,既是知识的内在要求也是高等教育的内在要求。     

经济大衰退对美国高等教育的影响

最近的经济衰退对美国高等教育构成了严峻的挑战.本文介绍经济衰退对美国高等教育财政的影响,概述美国联邦政府、州级政府和高等院校应对经济衰退的策略以及经济衰退对高等教育入学机会和大学生学业的消极影响,并探讨经济衰退中的美国高等教育状况对高等教育管理和高等院校战略规划的启示.     

Education in England – a testbed for network governance?

Abstract

Since devolution in the late 1990s, education policy in England has diverged further from that in Scotland and also from policy in Wales and Northern Ireland. In this paper we review the roots and trajectory of the English education reforms over the past two decades. Our focus is the schools sector, though we also touch on adjoining reforms to early years and further and higher education. In so doing, we engage with various themes, including marketisation, institutional autonomy and accountability. Changes in governance arrangements for schools have been a defining feature of education reforms since devolution. This has been set against an evolution in national performance indicators that has put government priorities into ever sharper relief. In theorising the changes, we pay particular attention to the suggestion that the English education system now epitomises the concept of ‘network governance’, which has also been applied to education in a global context. We question the extent to which policies have in practice moved beyond the well-established mechanisms of ‘steering at a distance’ and undermined the very notion of an education system in England. We conclude by considering possible futures for education policy and how they may position England in relation to other parts of the UK and the wider world.     

Global Trends,National Policies and Institutional Responses: Restructuring Higher Education in Malaysia

A significant global trend during the 1990s is the restructuring of higher education systems. The essence of this restructuring process is a redefinition of the relationship between institutions of higher learning, the state, and the market, and a drastic reduction of institutional autonomy. This article is an analysis of the restructuring process in the forms of privatisation of higher education and corporatisation of public universities in Malaysia. This analysis highlights the context of higher education reforms in the era of globalization, major trends in higher education reforms and Malaysias responses to these global trends. By focusing on the institutional level, this article examines the expansion and diversification of private higher education as well as the change in the governance and culture of public universities brought about by privatisation and corporatisation.     

Higher Education Research in Asia: a Publication and Co‐Publication Analysis

This study explores higher education research in Asia. Drawing on scientometrics, the mapping of science and social network analysis, this paper examines the publications of 38 specialised journals on higher education over the past three decades. The findings indicate a growing number of higher education research publications but the proportion of Asian publications in relation to the total world publications in higher education research remains stationary. The higher education research community in Asia is heavily concentrated in a few countries and universities, resting on a relatively small number of core scholars who publish research in the international specialised higher education journals. In response to increasing challenges in Asian higher education systems, the paper suggests that the higher education research community in Asia needs to be expanded and include more regional and international collaborations     

Global Isomorphism and Governance Reform in Chinese Higher Education

Tertiary Education and Management - In the past three decades, higher education reforms have taken place almost everywhere in the world, and governance or the way that higher education is or should...     

Geographical stratification and the role of the state in access to higher education in contemporary China

This article extends the geopolitical theory on geographical stratification to understand the persistent inequality in access to higher education in contemporary China. Drawing on empirical evidence on the geographical distribution of institutions, and differentiated admissions and recruitment processes, I examine how political and institutional arrangements shaped opportunity structures in access to higher education for students from different geographical origins. I conclude that the state's decentralised governance gave the eastern area more power and advantages while the students from the poor western and central regions suffered a lack of opportunities in achieving upward social mobility through higher education.     

Political Culture and Higher Education Governance in Chinese Societies: Some Reflections

Over the past decades, higher education governance and university management have become increasingly complex worldwide in a context of unprecedented expansion and diversification. Driven by both external and internal pressures, higher education reforms in different nations have often been reported to follow a similar pattern: shifting from the control model to the supervisory model in nearly all aspects of their relationship with universities. While such a trend in Chinese societies has been well documented in the literature, few people have been able to identify the sticking point of higher education governance there. As a result, the concept of a doomed cycle continues to linger obstinately, viewing power delegation as leading to market disorder which, in turn, leads to tighter control. This article points out the neglect of Confucian political culture and its importance for studies of higher education governance reforms in Chinese societies. It aims to demonstrate that Western theories of and approaches to governance and autonomy in higher education cannot be simply applied to other societies of highly different historical and cultural traditions. By so doing, it attempts to shed some light on debates over governance and autonomy in higher education in a much wider context.     

Chinese education policy in the context of decentralization and marketization: evolution and implications

Education policy has been undergoing great transformation in China since the initiation of economic reforms and the open-door policy in the late 1970s. These market-oriented reforms and the pursuit of rapid economic growth in a globalized economy have significantly impacted China’s education policy and development. In line with the development of the market-oriented economy and its increasing integration with the global market, a more pragmatic perception of education has gradually taken shape in the post-Mao era, resulting in the decentralization and marketization of education in China. This article aims to examine the development of Chinese education policy in the context of decentralization and marketization since the start of the economic reforms. It will firstly make a brief contrast between the education policies before and after the economic reforms. Then, the decentralization and marketization in the field of education since the initiation of the economic reforms will be examined. What follows is an assessment of the impacts that marketization and decentralization had on education policy. This paper argues that the weakening role of the state in education provision and the disparity between rural and urban areas are key issues facing China’s education policy following the economic reforms and the open-door policy. It concludes by suggesting that equal and balanced development in education in China entails bringing the state back into the education sector.     

When state centralism meets neo-liberalism: managing university governance change in Singapore and Malaysia

With strong intention to enhance the global competitiveness of their university systems, both the Singapore and Malaysia governments have introduced reforms along the lines of ideas and practices embedded in neo-liberalism. In the last decade or so, we have witnessed reforms being introduced to the higher education sectors in these Asian states, particularly when corporatization and incorporation strategies are adopted to transform national/public universities. With particular reference to how academics evaluate the impact of the reforms on their academic life, this article reports and analyses findings generated from campus visits and field interviews conducted in Singapore and Malaysia from 2007 to 2009. Although the senior management of corporatized/incorporated universities in these Asian states has been given more discretion to decide how to operate their universities, most of the front line academics that we interviewed have not experienced major differences in university governance after the reforms took place. Instead of feeling ‘emancipated’ and ‘empowered’, many academics feel more pressures and control from the university administration and government ministries. Despite the fact that both the Singapore and Malaysia governments have tried to embrace the ideas and practices of ‘neo-liberalism’ to transform university governance, academics still see the state’s reluctance in withdrawing from steering/controlling higher education development. Such observations clearly reflect the ‘clash’ of two major governance philosophies, namely, ‘state centralism’ and ‘neo-liberalism’. In short, this article critically examines how far the proposed university governance reforms by adopting the corporatization/incorporation strategies have actually transformed university management and academic life style in Singapore and Malaysia.     

High graduate unemployment rate and Taiwanese undergraduate education

An expansion in higher education in combination with the recent global economic recession has resulted in a high college graduate unemployment rate in Taiwan. This study investigates how the high unemployment rate and financial constraints caused by economic cutbacks have shaped undergraduates’ class choices, job needs, and future income expectations. Therein, the results obtained from a structural equation model indicate that students whose expenditures were most affected by the economic recession were in greater need of paid employment and were also more likely to take practical and credential courses, which resulted in heavier course loads. Clearly, the economic downturn and the consequential high unemployment rate have directed undergraduates to select more practical education, wherein they now prefer classes that are more likely to increase their employability. The results obtained in this study indicate that people use college courses to enhance their competencies and employability. Finally, regardless of the economic situation, female undergraduates expected significantly lower pay after graduation in comparison to their male counterparts.     

"全球化"时代的高等教育国际化-历史与比较的视角

伴随着经济全球化 ,高等教育国际化呈现出新特点 ,主要包括∶高等教育国际化越来越受经济利益的驱动 ,并进入全球范围内竞争阶段。此外 ,其内容不仅包括人员交流 ,而且还包括课程国际化、跨国教育、建立区域性和全球性协作组织等。国际化主要在高等院校层次展开 ,院校成为实施主体。在许多领域 ,国际化已上升到特定区域范围内国家间的合作与交流 ,并开始扩大到全球范围 ,追求全球标准化 ,高等教育国际化趋于朝高等教育全球化方向发展     

Exploring the potential rationale for the privatization of higher education in China

The last three decades have witnessed great social, political and economic change in China since the market reforms in the late 1970s. A market economy was adopted as a replacement to the planned economy in order to allocate resources more efficiently. Consequently, higher education in China has undergone dramatic reforms to adapt to this socio-economic transition. This paper adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining fieldwork data with documentary analysis, to investigate the rationales of privatization in Chinese universities. It starts by examining the conceptualization of privatization. This is followed by an introduction of the public/private mix in the higher education sector in China. It then turns to explore drivers of the higher education reforms. A key contribution of this paper therefore is a systematic examination of the causes and the aims of privatization identified in Western literature set in the context of radical change as seen in the Chinese context. Drawing to fieldwork data, this paper presents findings that stand in conflict with prior studies. This investigation of the implementation of the Chinese privatization reveals both common features shared with Western practice but also a special uniqueness. It concludes by arguing that the neo-liberal reforms in higher education in China is likely to be used as a contingency strategy to encourage private spending, rather than suggesting a paradigm shift in university governance.     

Empowering managers,assuring governors

Largely unknown to most of the world, Kyrgyzstan has a flourishing higher education (HE) sector, with more universities per head than other countries with similar populations. Kyrgyzstan is also a major regional importer of international students in Central Asia. This paper opens up this understudied country in three ways: first, through a brief analysis of the HE sector in Kyrgyzstan; second, by offering a personal view of life on the HE coalface through the findings of primary interviews with university managers in Kyrgyzstan, and third, by identifying five key contemporary challenges of working in Kyrgyz universities. The paper therefore contributes to the limited academic and practical study of HE in Central Asia by offering a new perspective on contemporary global challenges in HE administration and management. The key findings are relevant to organisations seeking to understand the context of working in the HE sector in Kyrgyzstan, and also to individuals and organisations wishing to deepen their comparative understanding of HE sectors around the world.     

Public university governance in China and Australia: a comparative study

There are several common trends and challenges in the higher education (HE) system around the world, like expansion and diversification of HE, fiscal pressure and orientation to markets, demand for greater accountability and great quality and efficiency (e.g. The financing and management of higher education: a status report on worldwide reforms, 1998; Internationalisation of higher education and global mobility 43-58, 2014; Global policy and policy-making in education, 2014; Higher Education Policy 21:5-27, 2008). These trends and changes have reshaped university governance as well. Public universities are the main institutions to carry out HE in Australia and China. The engagement between Australia and China in HE sector has become closer and closer in recent years. To conduct better and further cooperation and collaboration between Australian and Chinese universities, it is critical to understand and acknowledge the differences in two nations’ university governance. Moreover, by conducting this comparative study of two nations, it also helps us to figure out the changes in university governance over times under the global trends and the interactions between global and local factors. This comparative study focuses on the university level and attempts to identify the differences of university governance in Australian and Chinese public universities in three dimensions, state-university relation, university internal governance and university finance. This paper sketches the university governance in Australia and China and finds that the relationship between government and university is looser in Australia than that in China and Australian universities enjoy more autonomy and power than Chinese universities; as to university internal governance, Australian universities use a more business-oriented management mechanism; funding associated with full-fee paying international students has become very important for Australian HE while Chinese government funding has been decreasing as well but funds from international students play a minimal financial role.