INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: CHINA, ASIA, EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES

1. INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: CHINA, ASIA, EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES Kathryn Mohrman Arizona State University Brookings Tsinghua Center January 5, 2010

2. Background • Higher education administrator, national association executive, professor in US & China • University Design Consortium—focused on reform and innovation in higher education worldwide http://universitydesign.asu.edu • Research on public policies regarding world class universities

3. How are universities worldwide responding to increasing global competition?

4. Case study universities • CHINA • Sichuan, Tianjin, Beijing Normal, Peking, Tsinghua • USA • MIT, Berkeley, Michigan • EUROPE • Oxford, Paris 06 (Pierre and Marie Curie), ETH (Switzerland)

5. JAPAN • Tokyo, Kyoto, Tohoku • OTHER ASIA • Australian National, Chinese University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan

6. Research questions • How rich are these universities? • How research intensive are they? • How are they regarded by their peers? • Which universities have the strongest base for the competitive market? • Which ones are most likely to be successful in the future? • Possible directions for further research?

7. Basic demographics

8. Enrollments • Largest—SCU at almost 60,000 students in 2007 • Next—University of Michigan, 39,000 • Smallest—MIT with 10,000 • Most of the rest between 15,000 and 30,000

9. Student-faculty ratio (2007) • <10—Michigan, Paris06, Tohoku, Tsinghua • 10-15—Beijing Normal, MIT, Peking, Tokyo, Kyoto, Tianjin, Chinese U Hong Kong, Oxford, Sichuan • >15—National Taiwan, Australian National, Berkeley, ETH

10. How rich are these universities?

11. Annual budgets • Table 1—University expenditures 2003 and 2007 • Sichuan budget grew 82% • Oxford grew 52% • Beijing Normal grew 48% • Tokyo dropped 1.6% (although Kyoto grew 23% and Tohoku by 12%)

12. Impact of 985 Project

14. Expenditures per capita • Comparing Michigan and Sichuan • Per student—Michigan has 13.6 times the expenditure • Per professor plus researcher—5.5 times • Overall (per professor plus researcher) • <$200,000—Sichuan, Paris06, Tianjin, ETH • $200-300,000—Beijing Normal, National Taiwan, Oxford, Peking, Tsinghua • $300-400,000—Tohoku, Australian National, Chinese U Hong Kong, Kyoto • $400-500,000—Tokyo, MIT • >$500,000—Berkeley, Michigan

15. How research intensive are they?

16. External research funding • Table 2—Research expenditures from external sources 2003 and 2007 • Michigan/Beijing Normal—24 times the expenditure in 2003, 16 times in 2007 • MIT/Tsinghua—2.3 times in 2003, 1.5 times in 2007 • Tokyo/Peking—2.3 times in 2003, 2.0 times in 2007

17. Growth in research expenditures • Percentage change between 2003 and 2007 • <10%--Michigan, Berkeley • 10-25%--(no one) • 24-50%--MIT, Kyoto, Australian National, ETH, Chinese U Hong Kong • 50-70%--Tianjin, Oxford, Tokyo, Tohoku, Beijing Normal • 70-100%--Peking, Tsinghua • 122%--Sichuan

18. Budget share for research • Table 3—Research expenditures as percentage of total expenditures 2003 and 2007 • Highest (2007) Oxford—36.8%, followed by Berkeley at 32.8% and Tsinghua at 31.2% • Lowest (2007) Chinese U Hong Kong—9.8% • Others between 15% and 28%

22. Cost effectiveness • Table 4—Research expenditures per indexed article in US$ (using PPP) 2007 • Highest (2007) MIT--$163,261 per article • Lowest (2007) Paris06--$36,690 • 8 universities lowered per article expense • 6 universities increased per article expense

24. How are these universities regarded by their peers?

25. Rankings • Table 5—Shanghai Jiaotong rankings • Reminder: SJTU looks only at research • Universities are ambitious to move up but competition is increasing • Japanese universities are comparable in per capita performance to Michigan and Paris06 • Chinese universities are comparable to Hong Kong and Taiwan cases • No Chinese university has highly cited researchers

26. Which universities are most likely to be successful in the future?

27. Which have the strongest base for competition? • American universities are the richest but growing slowly • Chinese universities are growing rapidly in total funding and in money for research • Tsinghua and Peking have more money per prof plus researcher than Oxford • What is the impact of institutional and governmental investments?

28. Commitment to research • Research % is highest at Oxford, Berkeley, and Tsinghua • Biggest increases at Oxford, Chinese and Japanese institutions • Productivity highest at Tokyo, Berkeley, Kyoto, Paris06 and Peking • followed by Australian National and Tohoku

29. But what else is important? • Intellectual environment • Hardware—library, laboratories, equipment • Software—free inquiry, academic honesty • Paris06 • Lowest in total $ per prof plus researcher • Low in % expenditure for research • Yet higher in productivity than Michigan, Oxford or MIT

30. Next generation of scholars and citizens • Commitment to teaching and learning • Nurturing of graduate students • Chinese University of Hong Kong • Blend of East and West • Follows an American style undergraduate program, organized by colleges and requiring general education • Low commitment to research (about ¼ of Oxford’s) although increasing as % of total • Modest scholarly productivity

31. Future research

32. With more information about how funds are used, more insight into policy decisions • Especially allocation for research and teaching • With more universities, more analytical tools are possible • Therefore, how to collect more institutional data, especially from China • With more years, more opportunity to analyze trends • Unit of analysis could be institutional or national

33. Thank you Kathryn Mohrman Professor, School of Public Affairs Director, University Design Consortium Arizona State University kmohrman@asu.edu