Exploring the potential rationale for the privatization of higher education in China

Abstract

The last three decades have witnessed great social, political and economic change in China since the market reforms in the late 1970s. A market economy was adopted as a replacement to the planned economy in order to allocate resources more efficiently. Consequently, higher education in China has undergone dramatic reforms to adapt to this socio-economic transition. This paper adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining fieldwork data with documentary analysis, to investigate the rationales of privatization in Chinese universities. It starts by examining the conceptualization of privatization. This is followed by an introduction of the public/private mix in the higher education sector in China. It then turns to explore drivers of the higher education reforms. A key contribution of this paper therefore is a systematic examination of the causes and the aims of privatization identified in Western literature set in the context of radical change as seen in the Chinese context. Drawing to fieldwork data, this paper presents findings that stand in conflict with prior studies. This investigation of the implementation of the Chinese privatization reveals both common features shared with Western practice but also a special uniqueness. It concludes by arguing that the neo-liberal reforms in higher education in China is likely to be used as a contingency strategy to encourage private spending, rather than suggesting a paradigm shift in university governance.

Keywords:

• higher education
• China
• privatization
• liquidization of private savings
• contingency

Acknowledgement

This work was supported in part by Zhejiang University's “985 project” funding (Stage Three). The author thanks participants of the 2008 Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association Annual Conference for their useful comments. Special thanks extend to Roger Dale at the University of Bristol, Ka Ho Mok at the Hong Kong Institute of Education and William Yat Wai Lo at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for helpful suggestions on an earlier version of the paper.

Notes

1. Consumer expenditure is calculated by reducing private investment on operating private colleges from total private funding. Tuition only is unlikely to be a proper proxy for consumer expenditure because it is common that Chinese universities charge miscellaneous fees, legal or illegal, on top of tuition (J. Zhang, 2006).

2. Explanations to efficiency were given in the questionnaire to relate the understanding of efficiency to students' experience in university teaching, research and administration.