Dramatic Changes of Chinese Society
1.
2.
3.
4.
Changes in national economy
Changes of government roles
Transformation of a Closed Society into an Open
Society
Changes in Family
Changes in national economy
1.
2.
Transformation from planning economy to
market economy
Fast growth: the average annual growth rate of
GDP is 7.8% between 1978 and 2012.
3. Flowing of Labor Force
The proportions of labor force working in the
primary, secondary and third industry were
respectively 14.39%, 45.15% and 40.46% in 2001,
and they changed to 10.12%, 46.78%, and
43.10% in 2011.
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10.12%
46.78%
43.10%
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10.10%
46.67%
43.24%
通用
10.33%
46.24%
43.43%
通用
10.73%
47.45%
41.82%
通用
10.77%
47.34%
41.89%
Primary Industry
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11.11%
通用
47.95%
12.12%
40.94%
47.37%
40.51%
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13.39%
通用
12.80%
45.97%
41.23%
通用
13.74%
44.79%
41.47%
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14.39%
0%
10%
46.23%
30%
40%
third industry
40.38%
45.15%
20%
Secondary Industry
40.46%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
4. Transformation of Production Modes
 The knowledge-based economy had its first step in
China.
 Enterprises have to turn labor-intensive mode of
production into the technology-intensive one.
5. Unbalanced Development and Enlarged
Income Gap
 The gap of development levels between coastal
and frontier areas is enlarging.
 The income difference between urban and rural
areas and among different social groups is getting
worse.
Transformation of Government Roles
1. The policy making process is more decentralized.
2. The government confines its roles to making policy
and providing supervision, guidance or service.
Transformation of a Closed Society into
an Open Society
1. China shares 11.1% of the world total amount of
import and export in 2012.
2. The internet has been widely used.
the number of Internet user in China(million)
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3. American living style and Western culture
also came in.
 Coca-Cola is one of the most popular soft
drinks. McDonald and Kentucky Fried Chicken
are widely spread over China. Nike shoes and
fashion blue jeans are new fashions.
 Hollywood movies, Korean pop singers,
Japanese cartoons and game software are very
popular among youngsters.
Changes in Family
1. Declining of Population Growth Rate and Shrinking
of Family Size
 China’s population growth rate has been
declining continuously. It was 15.04 ‰ in 1989 and
declined to 4.79‰ in 2011.
 The average family size was 2.9 in urban areas and
4 in rural areas in 2008.
2. Increasing of Divorce Rate
9.059million Couples got married and 1.693
million couples divorced in 2012.
3. Disposable Family Income Increased
The disposable income per capita in urban
areas was 1374 yuan in 1989 and 24565yuan
in 2012, and the net income per capita was
602 yuan in rural areas in 1989 and 7917 yuan
in 2012.
School Structure of China
Context for Higher Education
Development in China
1. Huge size
 There are 2358 regular colleges and universities, 68.881
thousand general secondary schools, 13.872 thousand
vocational secondary schools, and 257.41 thousand
primary schools in 2010.
 There are 23.856 million college and university students,
77.032 million general secondary school students, 22.385
million vocational secondary school students, and 99.407
million primary school pupils in 2010.
 There are 1.343 million college instructors, 5.042 million
general secondary school teachers, 309 thousand
vocational secondary school teachers, and 5.617 million
primary school teachers in 2010.
2. Great Achievement
 The net enrollment rate of primary school reached
99.7% in 2010.
 The promotion rates of primary school graduates
and lower secondary school graduate were
respectively 98.7% and 87.5% in 2010.
 The gross enrollment rate of higher education was
24.2% in 2009.
3. Severe Lack of Fund and Unbalanced
Development
 The public expenditure on education has been
2.3% of GNP, and was 4% of GDP in 2012.
 The world best schools can be found in coastal
areas, but there are collapsing classrooms and
schools without basic equipments in frontier
areas. The enrollment rates at higher education
level vary greatly among different areas.
Current-fund Expenditure per college
Student in Some Provinces and
Autonomous Regions (2008) (in yuan)
gansu
10732
guizhou
8638
hunan
11162
jiangsu
17026
系列1
12559
jilin
9852
Inner Mongolia
31478
beijing
15493
National everage
0
5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000
expenditure
3. Long cultural traditions
Schooling is a means of transmitting national
culture, but meanwhile is restricted by the
national culture.
 The unique mission of schools is to pass
examinations.
 The main focus of instruction is to transmit
systematically knowledge.
 The society and schools all believe that forced
learning is necessary.
 Teachers are in the center of learning process.
Challenges and problems
 Uneven distribution of access throughout the
nation
 Balance between quantity and quality
 Rising of enrollment and declining of the
supporting ability of the government
 Employment of graduates
Building World-class Universities
 211 Project—100 top universities for the 21st
century
 985 Project—special support for those
institutions with the potential to be worldclass universities
Peking and Tsinghua
Fudan, China University of Science and Technology, Harbin
University of Technology, Nanjing, Shanghai Jiaotong, Xi’an
Jiaotong, Zhejiang
Beijing Normal, Nankai, Sichuan, Xiamen, etc. for total of 38
Examples of Special Government Grants (985
Project)
 First three-year round of funding
Peking and Tsinghua--$225M ($75M per year)
 In 2003, Peking University annual operating
budget was about $250M, so $75M more was
an increase of 30%
Challenges and problems

Accountability vs. autonomy

Quantity vs. quality (elite or mass?)

Comprehensiveness vs. special focus

Efficiency vs. collegiality
 Within or beyond ivory tower
Commercialization of Higher Education
 Tuition has been charged since 1995.
 The funding sources have been diversified.
 Private higher education institutions have been
developed very fast.
Current-fund Revenue of Institutions of Higher Education
by sources(2010)
2010
0.65%
33%
governments
donations gifts
49%
social organizations individuals
tuition fee
others
0.13%
0.05%
Changes in Revenue Sources(1998-2005)
70.0%
60.0%
governments
revenue
50.0%
social organizations
individuals
donations gifts
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
tution fee
10.0%
0.0%
others
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
year
Challenges and problems
 The nature and missions of higher education
institutions
 Subsidy system for poor students
 Collegiate environment
 Unbalanced development among different fields.
 Government role in the development of higher
education
Reforms of higher education administration
system





Academic power versus administration power
Faculty appointment system
Contract system
“Up or out” policy
Faculty assessment and merit pay




Challenges and problems
Selection and roles of presidents
Erosion of department power
Depression of faculty
Curriculum and instructional reforms





Offering majors according to market demands
Adoption of credit system
Strengthening general education
Offering more elective courses
Putting students in the center of learning process
Challenges and problems
University’s central mission: teaching or research?
 Students’ high demands versus faculty inertia
 Fast social changes versus college inertia
 Students’ long term needs versus their
employment need
Internationalization of higher education
 China must produce more people who have an
international understanding and appreciate
cultural differences among nations.
 China has to face the challenges brought by the
flowing of the educational resources across
national borders.
 China has to adopt international standards and
learn the international language.
 What is the role of the university in maintaining
the national identity?
Data on learners studying abroad and
returnees in 1998 and 2004
Year
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Number of returnees
7,379
7,448
9,121
12,243
18,000
20,100
25,100
Number of learners
studying abroad
17,622
23,749
38,989
83,973
125,000
117,300
114,700
Percentage (%)
41.88
31.36
23.49
14.58
14.40
17.14
21.83
Table 1. Enrolment of International Students in
China by Levels of Education (1998 – 2004)
year
Total
I
Number of
students
pursuing
bachelor
degrees
II
II/I ( %)
Number of
graduate
students
III
III/I (%)
1998
43,084
11,362
26.4
2,757
6.4
1999
44,711
11,479
25.7
2,896
6.5
2000
52,150
13,703
26.3
3,251
6.2
2001
61,869
16,650
26.9
3,571
5.8
2002
85,829
21,055
24.5
4,247
5.0
2003
77,715
24,616
31.7
5,034
6.5
2004
110,844
31,616
28.5
5,815
5.2
Challenges and problems
 Internationalization or Americanization
 Internationalization vs. localization
 International perspectives vs. local solution
 global villager vs. national identity
Conclusion
The Chinese society is changing dramatically, but
higher education institutions can not match the
changes or meet the demands of people. There is an
urgent need for higher educational reform.