‘FROM POINT TO SURFACE’: THE ROLE OF POLICY EXPERIMENTATION IN CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION REFORMS

ABSTRACT

China has undergone unprecedented changes since the Reform and Opening-up policy in 1978. Policy experimentation (PE) has been key in generating and catalysing reforms in the process. This study proposes a conceptual framework to describe the different pathways of PE-enabled reforms. Comparing two empirically informed case studies, this study demonstrates the functions of this policy tool plays within China’s higher education policy-making and development: generative, rhetorical and regulatory. The paper argues that PE can be a genuinely productive mechanism for producing, identifying and negotiating new policy options while allowing the government to supervise and regulate institutional reform behaviours. However, under certain conditions, it assumes more of a symbolic role allowing the government to acquire or consolidate reform legitimacy without engaging substantial innovation. By highlighting those key roles of PE, this paper provides a distinctive perspective for understanding the policy-making and reform process in China’s higher education development.

Keywords:

• policy experimentation
• policy process
• higher education reform
• institutional change
• China

7. Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor Hubert Ertl for his insightful suggestions for the study. We would also like to thank all participants involved in the study for generously sharing their experiences and reflections.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. China Central Radio and TV University (now called the Open University of China) was also appointed as an experiment point. However, as a specialised university, its tasks and challenges were different from general HEIs and therefore excluded from the discussion.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Key Project of Humanities and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education of China “Strategy for Developing Humanities and Social Sciences in Chinese Universities towards 2035„ [18JZD056]; and the Humanities and Social Sciences of Zhejiang Province “Empirical Research on Cultivating Innovative Talents within the Context of Higher Education Internationalization„ [20NDJC034YB].