From State Control to Governance: Decentralization and Higher Education in Guangdong, China

In China there has been a strong trend to diversification and decentralization of education in the post-Mao period. This paper examines how the policy of decentralization has affected the governance of universities in Guangdong. More specifically, the paper focuses on reform of the financing and management structure, the merging of universities, and joint development programmes to enhance competitiveness. Despite these changes, the state's role as a regulator and overall service coordinator has been strengthened rather than weakened under the policy of decentralization. This paper not only examines the recent developments in Guangdong's higher education but also analyses such developments in light of the global trend towards decentralization in educational governance.     

Major issues of university education policy in Hong Kong

University education is believed to be one of the most controversial public policies in Hong Kong. Numerous changes have also occurred in the university education sector since the 1990s when the rapid expansion of university places was put into force. The most notable changes may include the institutionalization of quality assurance mechanisms, the reform of university governance and staff remuneration systems, the adoption of role differentiation among the universities, the potential emergence of private universities and community colleges, and the trend of internationalizing university education. This article identifies major issues of university education policy and examines those factors that are affecting the development of university education, in Hong Kong.     

省级政府教育投入实证研究:政府治理的视角

省级政府教育投入行为及治理是一个重要问题,对省域内基础教育的均衡发展具有重要意义。本文首先界定了省级政府教育投入努力程度的内涵,并基于多元排序选择模型,分析了财政分权、政府治理对省级政府教育投入努力程度的影响,最后提出了相应的政策建议。     

Empowerment or impediment? School governance in the school-based management era in Hong Kong

Following the international trend in education towards democracy and decentralization, the Hong Kong government introduced a school-based management (SBM) system about two decades ago. It is widely recognized in the literature that decentralization, empowering school level management and marginalizing the influence of the intermediate level of governance, can result in better deployment of school resources and better meet the demands of various stakeholders. However, in the unique historical and cultural context of Hong Kong, the advantages of decentralization claimed in the literature have yet to be fully realized. This paper discusses the contextual factors affecting the implementation of SBM in Hong Kong, and examines their impact on four major stakeholders, namely the government, the principals, the teachers, and the parents in the wake of reform.     

高等教育国际化政策与趋势

世界各国教育界都十分关注高等教育国际化政策与趋势的研究。中国高等教育的政策法规不断制定与完善,在加快推进教育治理体系和治理能力现代化、转变职能和简政放权、促进教育公平、提高教育质量、深化重点领域改革等方面取得了新突破。北京大学—斯坦福大学于2014年10月20-21日在北京大学斯坦福中心联合举办＂大学是创新与经济发展的源泉论坛＂,对大学创新能力进行了国家之间的比较,一致认为创新就是创造性的破坏。教育国际化是未来高等教育的发展趋势,信息技术只有与教育深度融合,才能推动教育改革与发展。     

改革开放以来我国高校办学自主权的历史嬗变与制度逻辑

办学自主权既是高校有效实施内部治理的基础,也是现代大学制度建设重要内容。改革开放以来,我国高等教育实现了从三级管理体制的建立,进而到以办学章程为载体的治理体系改革的历史嬗变,高校的办学自主权明显扩大。从制度变迁的视角看,高校办学自主权的变迁体现了权力与制度的互构关系:权力秩序呈现出从集中管控到分权治理的特点,制度模式从国家本位到多元导向的发展趋势。受路径依赖和高等教育供给制度的影响,我国高校的办学自主权在变迁过程中产生了宏观鼓励与微观约束、临时性制度过多与总体性制度欠缺、外部放权和内部集权等多对矛盾关系。在当前我国"双一流"建设的背景下,进一步提升高校的办学自主权,迫切需要加大高等教育领域"放管服"改革的力度,实现从行政主导型的制度变革转向发展驱动下的高校自主性治理改革。     

高校办学自主权政策的文本考察与趋势

改革开放后,我国共召开了四次全国教育工作大会。通过考察这四次会议前后颁布的教育政策文本,并结合高校办学自主权的性质、内容、外部治理结构和内部治理结构四个主题,可以看出我国高校办学自主权政策演进的四个趋势：一是逐渐强化高校自主办学的权利意识,二是推进重心逐渐从“扩大’’转向“落实”,三是逐渐提升高校外部治理结构中专业组织的地位,四是逐步平衡高校内部行政权力和学术权力。     

When China opens to the world: A study of transnational higher education in Zhejiang, China

The economic transition in China since the late 1970s has led to not only drastic social transformations but also rapid advancements in science and technology, as well as the revolution in information and communications technology. In order to enhance the global competence of the Chinese population in coping with the challenges of a knowledge-based economy, the higher education sector has been going through restructuring along the lines of marketization, privatization and decentralization. Responding to the the challenges of globalization, the Chinese government has opened up the education market by allowing overseas universities to offer programmes on the mainland. This article sets out in this wider policy context to examine the current developments of transnational higher education in China, with particular reference to how students in Zhejiang province enrolling in these overseas programmes, especially those offered by Australian providers, evaluate their learning experiences. This article will also discuss the major concerns raised by the respondents in our study regarding the newly emerging transnational higher education programmes, with particular reference to examining how far these new programmes would affect the regulatory framework in Chinese higher education.     

The sphere of authority: governing education policy in Pakistan amidst global pressures

The authority of the nation states and their capacity to govern their education policy has been reconfigured by the processes of globalisation. This paper examines recent education policy in Pakistan in order to reveal the nature of national authority in education policy-making in a challenging context. The central piece of analysis is the pre-policy text issued by the Ministry of Education, Pakistan — the White Paper. This analysis is further supported through interviews with senior policy actors and other significant policy texts. The paper identifies several tensions caused by the interaction of global and national education policy priorities and explores how the national government of Pakistan seeks to expand its SoA through ‘soft’ governance approaches despite the material and financial constraints within which it operates.     

高校共同治理及其对完善中国特色现代大学制度的启示 大规模学生评估的影响力与重要性： 现状与趋势

调整、改革和完善高等院校的治理结构是完善中国特色现代大学制度的难点,也是关键。美国高等院校治理的模式对美国高等教育的成功发挥了举足轻重的作用,也在国际上享有很高的声誉。本文旨在介绍高等院校共同治理的理念,描述董事会、校长和教授三方在共同治理中的协作与分工,分析美国大学共同治理实践中的一些问题,并探讨美国共同治理的经验对完善中国特色现代大学制度的启示。     

Globalization and the Emergence of For-Profit Higher Education

Globalization and the revolution in technological communications are major forces of change in higher education. This environment, when coupled with the needs of adult learners and the rising costs of tuition at traditional colleges and universities, has stimulated the emergence of for-profit, degree-granting higher education in the United States. This paper examines the growth of for-profit higher education, provides a cost/profit analysis, and gives examples of for-profit universities that are increasing international in scope. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these developments for traditional colleges and universities.     

Education in Thailand after the crisis: a balancing act between globalization and national self-contemplation

Preparing a country for economic competitiveness and contributing to the preservation of the national cultural heritage are two demands that fall on education systems across the globe today. This paper relates the recent academic debate on the effects of globalization on education systems to current developments in Thailand, as reflected in recent Thai education policy documents. The 1997 financial and economic crisis has intensified thinking among Thai policy makers about a new balance of autonomy and dependency, of inward and outward orientation, of economic competitiveness and cultural self-reliance. Among others, life-long learning and educational decentralization are considered as instruments to balance the conflicting demands on the education system.     

Decentralization and recentralization reform in Mongolia: tracing the swing of the pendulum

For the past 10 years the Ministry of Education of Mongolia has periodically oscillated between decentralization and recentralization policies. On paper, it has consistently and enthusiastically subscribed to decentralization, but in practice has given these policies low priority. This study attempts to explain the discrepancies between policy talk and actual implementation. Methodologically, the authors investigate local policy contexts and examine how international interventions such as decentralization policies are locally reinterpreted or ‘Mongolized’. The study examines several areas where cultural legacies from the socialist past have clashed with the expectations of international donors. Theoretically, the Mongolian fiasco of decentralization reform lends itself as a case to address issues that have been raised both in comparative research on ‘transitology’ and on cross‐national policy borrowing.     

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.     

从集权规制到分权共治： 法国大学法权治理模式的演进逻辑与启示

法国大学经历了从双重集权管理向分权下的共同治理模式的转变,彰显了外部干预与学术自由的矛盾冲突,表现为政府权力、大学的行政权力与学术权力的复杂博弈与动态平衡,潜藏着经营主义和官僚主义的风险。科层组织治理的边界与行会组织治理的复归是公立大学规避制度风险、实现公共服务目标的必由之路。我国公立大学的法权治理模式应借助市场化改革潮流,建构多元衡平的法权治理结构。     

Reforming University Education in Hong Kong and Singapore

University education has been thrust into the limelight by policymakers in Hong Kong and Singapore in recent years. Reforming university education thus has become a norm for both city-states. This article reviews and compares some recent developments in the university reforms in both city-states. It argues university education, as a public policy area, is not immune from the profound influence of such concepts as accountability, performativity, quality assurance and market relevance, which prevail in a wider policy context of public sector reforms and governance changes. Hong Kong and Singapore's university reforms are similarly extensive, ranging from the admission mechanisms through to the governance and funding systems. This article has four main sections. The first sketches a paradigm shift in the policymaking process and the changing state-university relationships in the age of globalization. The second reviews and compares some recent developments of the university reforms in both city-states. The third turns to assess the impacts of the reforms on university stakeholders. The final section is the conclusion.     

Higher education policy and freshman migration in Japan

Due to the national policy of university and junior college decentralization and private education subsidy, the enrollment capacity in big cities has decreased while that in provincial areas has relatively increased to make the competition to enter universities and colleges more keen in big cities. Thus the rate of students continuing to study at universities and colleges has declined in big cities and increased in provincial areas to decrease the disparity among regions, but as a result the national average of the above rate has declined. If the decentralization policy continues to be practiced, the rate of students continuing to study at universities and colleges will not increase. On the other hand the national average of such a rate will increase but the gap among regions will also increase if the enrollment capacity of big cities is increased.     

Education 'Decentralization' Processes in Mexico and Nicaragua: Legislative versus ministry-led reform strategies

Much of the development community has advocated decentralization of basic education, and many countries have implemented some form of decentralization policy. This paper explores one important facet of the reform process: the relationship between the creation of official legislation, on the one hand, and the actual implementation of changes in governance, on the other. Most countries have, like Mexico, followed a strategy of legislation first and actual reform second. Nicaragua pursued a very different strategy, implementing significant changes in governance with little legal framework. Each strategy had benefits and pitfalls, but the comparison of the two experiences illustrates that prioritizing the creation of a legislative framework, as most countries have done, is no golden rule. Reforming governments have important lessons to learn from considering the attributes of both strategies to allow enough flexibility to facilitate learning by doing and to minimize wasted administrative effort and political capital, without jeopardizing the reform because of uncertainty and a lack of transparency.     

Education and the market place in Hong Kong and Mainland China

This paper attempts to examine how market forces have affected educational development in Hong Kong and Mainland China. In both places, there has been a trend to the decentralisation and marketisation of education in recent years, particularly in the realm of higher education. Based upon recent research conducted in Hong Kong and China, the author argues that higher education in these two places has been significantly affected by emerging market forces. The core of the paper is confined to the discussion of two major issues: user charges and the introduction of competition and cost recovery in education. The main focus of this paper is on what strategies educational institutions in Hong Kong and China have employed in response to the strong tide of marketisation. Particular attention will be given to discussing how markets and competition have affected the governance and delivery of educational services in Hong Kong and China. This comparative study has demonstrated that even though the recent developments in higher education in these two places have been experiencing a similar global trend, the global tide of universal trend in which private charges, market competition, non-state provision, corporate governance, system-wide performance management should not be treated as a simplistic notion of undifferentiated universal trend. Instead, different places may take different configurations in cases of marketization which remain national-specific as well as global.