Higher Education Expansion in China: Origins and Potential Consequences

1. Higher Education Expansion in China: Origins and Potential Consequences Yingyi Ma, Ph.D. Sarah Miraglia, Ph.D. Candidate Assistant Professor in Sociology Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Syracuse University Syracuse NY U.S.A

2. Overview • Introduction • Research Questions • Origins of expansion in China • Mass higher education features—American case • Potential Consequences of expansion in China

3. Introduction • Unprecedented higher education expansion in China • Starts from the end of the 20th century • China now has the largest higher education enrollment in the world

4. Recent Development of Higher Education Expansion in China

5. Enrollment Rate of College Age Cohort

6. Theory on Stages of Higher Education Expansion • American sociologist Martin Trow develops the three-stage theory of higher education expansion (1973) • Elite stage, with enrollment rate of college age cohort less than 15% • Mass stage, with enrollment rate between 15% to 50% • Universal stage, with enrollment rate above 50% • Trend: universal higher education—everybody can go to college!

7. Massification of Higher Education • The process of introducing mass higher education enterprise is called massification (Altbach 1999) • China now is witnessing the massification of higher education.

8. Research Questions • What are the origins of the unprecedented higher education expansion in China? • What are the potential consequences of such expansion?

9. In particular, • In the process of massification, a significant question often emerges: will or should our higher education institutions be more or less alike? In other words, the massification of higher education will lead to the trend of institutional uniformity or differentiation?

10. Higher Education Expansion Origins in China • Transition from planned economy to market economy • Global trend of transitioning from elite higher education to mass higher education

11. Transition from Planned Economy to Market Economy Under Planned Economy • Soviet model of highly centralized and specialized higher education leads to departmentalization and over-specialization Under Market Economy • Higher education institutions are pushed to be more flexible, adaptive and responsive to market needs

12. Transition from Planned Economy to Market Economy The re-emergence of private higher education • 1952, higher education institutions were all converted to public sector; • 1993, the Provisional Stipulations for the Establishment of Minban Higher Education Institutions

13. Transition from Planned Economy to Market Economy Higher earning power to finance higher education on the part of individual students • Higher education is free to students under planned economy • Now tuition and fees paid by students has contributed to 20% of expense

14. Higher Education Expansion Origins in China Mass higher education--global trend • Individual and society’s needs for higher education • Industrial societies achieve mass higher education in chronological order: • U.S: 1950s • Japan: late 1960s • Taiwan: early 1970s • South Korea: early 1980s

15. Differences between Elite and Mass Higher Education

16. In sum, the core of this theory highlights • Mass higher education generates skilled labor at mass level • Mass higher education serves diverse groups of people with distinct needs and talents. • Mass higher education calls forth a differentiated structure that includes various types of institutions enrolling students from different backgrounds with distinct needs.

17. In other words, • Mass higher education calls forth institutional diversity, both between institutions, and within institutions • Between institutional diversity: various types of institutions with distinct functions and goals • Within institutional diversity: the same institution serve different types of students with various purposes of their studies

18. Institutional Diversity—American Case • Various types of institutions • Public vs. private (25% enrollment rate) • Two year vs. four year • Multiuniversity (Clark 1976, Ruth 1999) • One major university that serves different groups of students with diverse interests and talents.

19. Institutional Diversity—the Role of Community College in American Higher Education • Community college—American invention that makes college accessible virtually to every one • Role of community college • provide vocational training • serve students not going to 4-year college, for various reasons (academic or financial or personal…)

20. The Importance of Regional Higher Education Institutions • American community colleges and regional universities are engines of growth for regional development • Regional institutions intend to serve local community • Cost is reduced for students attending regional institutions • Labor market is in balance among localities and metro areas.

21. Potential Problems/ Consequences of Higher Education Expansion in China • Inequality in regional development of higher education • Educated unemployed • Chinese labor market is highly segmented • Higher education expansion produces an oversupply for high-end labor market • Financial burdens on individual students and their family

22. Potential Problems/Consequences • Equity issues • Higher education is viewed more as private good, and individual student and their families are responsible for the substantial cost of their education • Financing, such as student loans, are under-developed in China • The major inequality factor in Chinese society is rural-urban divide • Large sectors of rural students and urban poor are having difficulty in accessing higher education

23. Policy Implications • Expand more on vocational and short-term higher education institutions, with the eye to train skilled labor for local labor market. • Spread higher education resources from highly-concentrated major metropolitan and coastal cities to inland areas • Provide more efficient higher education financing to students in need