Professionalization and the Training of University Administrators in China: A Comparative Perspective

Compared to the training of higher education management professionals in the US, the training of their counterparts in China is relatively modest, with few programs offered at the graduate level. Further, few concrete solutions have been proposed for tackling the challenge of preparing managerial professionals for the sound development of higher educational institutions in China. Based on existing theories and practices associated with professionalization and findings from the literature and data collected from universities both in China and the US, this paper examines the training of higher education professionals from a comparative perspective in the two countries. With the intention of identifying the characteristics of “best practices” for the training and education of institutional executives, in an effort to provide possible suggestions for the future development of higher management training in China, the paper will discuss the topic from two perspectives: short-term in-service training programs and formal PhD and EdD programs.