Higher Education, Meritocracy and Inequality in China

Higher Education, Meritocracy and Inequality in China PDF Author: Ye Liu
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9811015880
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
This book investigates the changing opportunities in higher education for different social groups during China’s transition from the socialist regime to a market economy. The first part of the book provides a historical and comparative analysis of the development of the idea of meritocracy, since its early origins in China, and in more recent western thought. The second part then explores higher education reforms in China, the part played by supposedly meritocratic forms of selection, and the implications of these for social mobility. Based on original empirical data, Ye Liu sheds light on the socio-economic, gender and geographical inequalities behind the meritocratic façade of the Gaokao (高考). Liu argues that the Chinese philosophical belief in education-based meritocracy had a modern makeover in the Gaokao, and that this ideology induces working-class and rural students to believe in upward social mobility through higher education. When the Gaokao broke the promise of status improvement for rural students, they turned to the Chinese Communist Party and sought political connections by actively applying for its membership. This book reveals a bleak picture of visible and invisible inequality in terms of access to and participation in higher education in contemporary China. Written in an accessible style, it offers a valuable resource for researchers and non-specialist readers alike.

Higher Education, Meritocracy and Inequality in China

Higher Education, Meritocracy and Inequality in China PDF Author: Ye Liu
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9811015880
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 231

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book investigates the changing opportunities in higher education for different social groups during China’s transition from the socialist regime to a market economy. The first part of the book provides a historical and comparative analysis of the development of the idea of meritocracy, since its early origins in China, and in more recent western thought. The second part then explores higher education reforms in China, the part played by supposedly meritocratic forms of selection, and the implications of these for social mobility. Based on original empirical data, Ye Liu sheds light on the socio-economic, gender and geographical inequalities behind the meritocratic façade of the Gaokao (高考). Liu argues that the Chinese philosophical belief in education-based meritocracy had a modern makeover in the Gaokao, and that this ideology induces working-class and rural students to believe in upward social mobility through higher education. When the Gaokao broke the promise of status improvement for rural students, they turned to the Chinese Communist Party and sought political connections by actively applying for its membership. This book reveals a bleak picture of visible and invisible inequality in terms of access to and participation in higher education in contemporary China. Written in an accessible style, it offers a valuable resource for researchers and non-specialist readers alike.

Education and Reform in China

Education and Reform in China PDF Author: Emily Hannum
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135984700
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Transformative market reforms in China since the late 1970s have improved living standards dramatically, but have also led to unprecedented economic inequality. During this period, China’s educational system was restructured to support economic development, with educational reforms occurring at a startling pace. Today, the educational system has diversified in structure, finance, and content; it has become more market-oriented; and it is serving an increasingly diverse student population. These changes carry significant consequences for China’s social mobility and inequality, and future economic prospects. In Education and Reform in China, leading scholars in the fields of education, sociology, demography, and economics investigate the evolution of educational access and attainment, educational quality, and the economic consequences of being educated. Education and Reform in China shows that economic advancement is increasingly tied to education in China, even as educational services are increasingly marketized. The volume investigates the varying impact of change for different social, ethnic, economic and geographic groups. Offering interdisciplinary views on the changing role of education in Chinese society, and on China’s educational achievements and policy challenges, this book will be an important resource for those interested in education, public policy, and development issues in China.

Chinese Higher Education Reform and Social Justice

Chinese Higher Education Reform and Social Justice PDF Author: Bin Wu
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134650183
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
In place of a distributive justice perspective which focuses simply on equal access to universities, this book presents a broader understanding of the relationship between Chinese higher education and economic and social change. The necessity for research on the place of universities in contemporary Chinese society may be seen from current debates about and policy towards issues of educational inequality at Chinese universities. Many questions arise as a consequence: What are the limitations of neo-liberalism in higher education policy and what are the alternatives? How has the Chinese government met the challenges of educational inequality, and what lessons may be learned from its recent initiatives? How may higher education enhance social justice in Chinese society given economic, social, and cultural inequality? What may be learned from the experience of Macau, Hong Kong, and of Taiwan in terms of achieving social justice in Chinese universities? These questions are considered by a group of leading scholars from both inside and outside China.

Equity Issues in Chinese Higher Education Policy

Equity Issues in Chinese Higher Education Policy PDF Author: Hongzhi Zhang
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040032737
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
Investigating the highly influential enrolment expansion policy in Chinese higher education, this book outlines how educational equity issues were understood and addressed in the formulation and implementation of the policy, and its impacts on the socio-economic fabric of China in the past decades. Drawing on Chinese policy documents and interviews with government and university representatives, Zhang examines the education system under the Mao era and the post-Mao era and outlines the different approaches to equity that have characterized education in China in the 20th and 21st centuries. Stephen Ball’s "policy cycle" is used as a framework to analyse the various contexts (text, discourse, and social practice) in which policy is formed. Zhang argues that education policy was not simply driven by concerns of equity but also by economic interests and political discourse. Zhang further goes on to analyse how education policy was implemented by provincial governments and highlights the tension between central policy and on-the-ground implementation. Bringing analysis of Chinese policy and research to a wider audience, this text will interest education policymakers and academics in the field of educational equity and higher education research.

Inequality and Public Policy in China

Inequality and Public Policy in China PDF Author: Björn A. Gustafsson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113947006X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 19

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Book Description
This volume examines trends in inequality in the People's Republic of China. It contains findings on inequality nationwide, as well as within the rural and urban sectors, with an emphasis on public policy considerations. Several chapters focus on inequality of income; others analyse poverty, inequality in wealth, and the distribution of wages. Attention is given to groups such as migrants, women, and the elderly, as well as the relationship between income and health care funding and the impact of the rural tax reform. All contributors to this volume make use of a large, nationwide survey of Chinese households, the product of long-term co-operation between Chinese and international researchers that is unique in its scope and duration. Using these data, the contributors examine changes in inequality from 1988 to 2002.

Higher Education Reform in China

Higher Education Reform in China PDF Author: W. John Morgan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136811931
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
A major transformation of Chinese higher education (HE) has taken place over the past decade – China has reshaped its higher education sector from elite to mass education with the number of graduates having quadrupled to three million a year over six years. China is exceptional among lower income countries in using tertiary education as a development strategy on such a scale, aiming to improve the quality of its graduates, and make HE available to as many of its citizens as possible. This book provides a critical examination the challenges to the development and sustainability of higher education in China: Can its universities move from quantity to quality? How will so many graduates find jobs in line with their expectations? Can Britain and other western countries continue to benefit from China’s education boom? What are the prospects for collaboration in research? This book evaluates the prospects for Chinese and foreign HE providers, regulators and other stakeholders. It introduces the key changes in China’s HE programme since the Opening-Up policy in 1978 and analyses the achievements and the challenges over the subsequent three decades. Furthermore, it sheds light on new reforms that are likely to take place in the future, particularly as a result of the ongoing international financial crisis.

Inequality in Education

Inequality in Education PDF Author: Donald B. Holsinger
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048126525
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 609

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Book Description
Inequality in Education: Comparative and International Perspectives is a compilation of conceptual chapters and national case studies that includes a series of methods for measuring education inequalities. The book provides up-to-date scholarly research on global trends in the distribution of formal schooling in national populations. It also offers a strategic comparative and international education policy statement on recent shifts in education inequality, and new approaches to explore, develop and improve comparative education and policy research globally. Contributing authors examine how education as a process interacts with government finance policy to form patterns of access to education services. In addition to case perspectives from 18 countries across six geographic regions, the volume includes six conceptual chapters on topics that influence education inequality, such as gender, disability, language and economics, and a summary chapter that presents new evidence on the pernicious consequences of inequality in the distribution of education. The book offers (1) a better and more holistic understanding of ways to measure education inequalities; and (2) strategies for facing the challenge of inequality in education in the processes of policy formation, planning and implementation at the local, regional, national and global levels.

Rising Inequality in China

Rising Inequality in China PDF Author: Shi Li
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107002915
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 531

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Book Description
This book examines the evolution of economic inequality in China from 2002 to 2007; a sequel to Inequality and Public Policy in China (2008).

Spotlight on China

Spotlight on China PDF Author: Shibao Guo
Publisher: Brill
ISBN: 9789462098800
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
Fuelled by forces of globalization, China has gradually shifted from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy. Under the market economy China has experienced a massive and protracted economic boom. It is not clear however whether recent economic changes have brought the same miracle to education in China. Spotlight on China brings together established and emerging scholars from China and internationally in a dialogue about the profound social and economic transformation that has resulted from the market economy and its concomitant impact on education in China. The book covers a wide range of topics, including: Market economy and curriculum reform Teaching under China's market economy Changes in higher education Transitions from education to work Market economy and social inequality With its broad scope and fresh critical perspectives, this collection offers a most contemporary and comprehensive analysis of possibly the largest education system in the world. Lessons learned from the China experiment will inform researchers and educators about social and educational reforms in other countries which are undergoing similar fundamental changes. "Spotlight on China provides a state of the art picture: dynamic, partial, full of contradictions and tensions, and, as we speak, in movement and local reconfiguration." - Allan Luke, Queensland University of Technology "The book moves social science research on China's education another step forward by refining the balance between the viability of mainstream western concepts and the analytical possibilities of creating a new scholarship based on a deeper understanding of the historically grounded realities of contemporary Chinese education." - Gerard A. Postiglione, The University of Hong Kong"

Economic Inequality and Higher Education

Economic Inequality and Higher Education PDF Author: Stacy Dickert-Conlin
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610441567
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
The vast disparities in college attendance and graduation rates between students from different class backgrounds is a growing social concern. Economic Inequality and Higher Education investigates the connection between income inequality and unequal access to higher education, and proposes solutions that the state and federal governments and schools themselves can undertake to make college accessible to students from all backgrounds. Economic Inequality and Higher Education convenes experts from the fields of education, economics, and public policy to assess the barriers that prevent low-income students from completing college. For many students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, the challenge isn't getting into college, but getting out with a degree. Helping this group will require improving the quality of education in the community colleges and lower-tier public universities they are most likely to attend. Documenting the extensive disjuncture between the content of state-mandated high school testing and college placement exams, Michael Kirst calls for greater alignment between K-12 and college education. Amanda Pallais and Sarah Turner examine barriers to access at elite universities for low-income students—including tuition costs, lack of information, and poor high school records—as well as recent initiatives to increase socioeconomic diversity at private and public universities. Top private universities have increased the level and transparency of financial aid, while elite public universities have focused on outreach, mentoring, and counseling, and both sets of reforms show signs of success. Ron Ehrenberg notes that financial aid policies in both public and private universities have recently shifted towards merit-based aid, away from the need-based aid that is most helpful to low-income students. Ehrenberg calls on government policy makers to create incentives for colleges to increase their representation of low-income students. Higher education is often vaunted as the primary engine of upward mobility. Instead, as inequality in America rises, colleges may be reproducing income disparities from one generation to the next. Economic Inequality and Higher Education illuminates this worrisome trend and suggests reforms that educational institutions and the government must implement to make the dream of a college degree a reality for all motivated students.