Abstract
Based on policy documents and interviews, this chapter analyzes Peking University’s governance structure and reform in the context of the changing relationship between the government and university and the new policy instruments (for example, world-class universities building policy and double excellence policy). After 1998, Chinese central government used more and more competitive projects to fund top elite universities. Universities in turn established corresponding administrative centers to communicate with the central government. In that process, the case university gets more and more funding, but the authority relationships between different groups within the university changes. The university-level leaders and middle-level administrators become more powerful and the university academic senate is just a “Rubber Stamp”. Faculty governance at the university level is weak. Under the policy rhetoric of building a world-class university, the western tenure system has been selectively adopted since 2014 which emphasizes the rule of “up or out”. At a school and department level, academic oligarchs in the senate share their power with deans. Based on this observation, this chapter will analyze the implication and limitation of the concept of neoliberalism in the context of Chinese higher education.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anderson, C. K. (2007). The creation of faculty senates in American research universities (Doctoral dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University).
Austin, I., & Jones, G. A. (2016). Governance of higher education: Global perspectives, theories, and practices. Routledge.
Ball, S. J. (2012). Performativity, commodification and commitment: An I-spy guide to the neoliberal university. British Journal of Educational Studies, 60(1), 17–28.
Boliver, V. (2013). How fair is access to more prestigious UK universities? The British Journal of Sociology, 64(2), 344–364.
Bray, D. (2005). Social space and governance in urban China: The danwei system from origins to reform. Stanford University Press.
de Boer, H. F., Enders, J., & Schimank, U. (2005). Orchestrating creative minds. The governance of higher education and research in four countries compared. Enschede: CHEPS.
Dearlove, J. (2002). A continuing role for academics: The governance of UK universities in the post-dearing era. Higher Education Quarterly, 56(3), 257–275.
Ehrenberg, R. G. (2002). Tuition rising: Why college costs so much, with a new preface. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Henkel, M. (2000). Academic identities and policy change in higher education (Vol. 46). Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Hermanowicz, J. C. (2015). The proliferation of publishing: Economic rationality and ritualized productivity in a neoliberal era. The American Sociologist, 47, 1–18.
Huang, F. (2006). Incorporation and university governance: A comparative perspective from China and Japan. Higher Education Management and Policy, 18(2), 1–15.
Hyatt, S. B., Shear, B., & Wright, S. (Eds.). (2015). Learning under neoliberalism: Ethnographies of governance in higher education (Vol. 1). Berghahn Books.
Liu, N. C. (2015). The story of academic ranking of world universities. International Higher Education (54).
Mok, J. K. H. (2001). From state control to governance: Decentralization and higher education in Guangdong, China. International Review of Education, 47(1–2), 123–149.
Mok, K. H. (2010). Emerging regulatory regionalism in university governance: A comparative study of China and Taiwan. Globalization, Societies and Education, 8(1), 87–103.
Mok, K. H., & Lo, Y. W. (2007). The impacts of neo-liberalism on China’s higher education. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 5(1), 316–348.
Musselin, C. (2014). Empowerment of French universities by funding and evaluation agencies. Organizational transformation and scientific change. The impact of institutional restructuring on universities and intellectual innovation (pp. 51–76). Bingley, UK: Emerald.
National Bureau of Statistics. (2012). China statistical yearbook 2012. Beijing: China Statistics Press.
Nedeva, M., Boden, R., & Nugroho, Y. (2012). Rank and file: Managing individual performance in university research. Higher Education Policy, 25(3), 335–360.
Olssen, M., & Peters, M. A. (2005). Neoliberalism, higher education and the knowledge economy: From the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of Education Policy, 20(3), 313–345.
S&T Development Centre of Ministry of Education. (2015). S&T data of Chinese higher education institutions, 2015 (in Chinese). Beijing: Higher Education Press.
Schriewer, J. (2012). Editorial: Meaning constellations in the world society. Comparative Education, 48(4), 411–422.
Shin, J. C. (2014, March). Higher education governance under neoliberalism. In Higher education forum: A COE publication (Vol. 11, pp. 37–52). 広島大学.
Shin, J. C., & Kim, H. H. (2013). Tuition rising in competitions for a world-class university: Cost sharing or cost transfer? Asia Pacific Journal of Educational Development (APJED), 2(2), 1–11.
Shore, C. (2010). Beyond the multiversity: Neoliberalism and the rise of the schizophrenic university. Social Anthropology, 18(1), 15–29.
Shore, C., & Wright, S. (1999). Audit culture and anthropology: Neo-liberalism in British higher education. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 557–575.
Sporn, B. (1996). Managing university culture: An analysis of the relationship between institutional culture and management approaches. Higher Education, 32(1), 41–61.
Tierney, W. G. (1988). Organizational culture in higher education: Defining the essentials. Journal of Higher Education, 59(1), 2–21.
Wang, L. (2010). Higher education governance and university autonomy in China. Globalization, Societies and Education, 8(4), 477–495.
Wright, S. (2004). Markets, corporations, consumers? New landscapes of higher education. Learning & Teaching in the Social Sciences, 1(2), 71–93.
Yang, R. (2009). Enter the dragon? China’s higher education returns to the world community: The case of the Peking University personnel reforms. In Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 427–461). The Netherlands: Springer.
Yang, R. (2010). Changing governance in China’s higher education: Some analyses of the recent university enrollment expansion policy. In The search for new governance of higher education in Asia (pp. 49–66). US: Palgrave Macmillan.
Yokoyama, K. (2008). Neo-liberalism and change in higher education policy: England and Japan. Policy Futures in Education, 6(2), 235–256.
Zhao, J. (1998). The making of a Chinese University: A case study of organization and administration of a key Chinese University circa 1995 (Doctoral dissertation, McGill University Libraries).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shen, W., Ma, W. (2018). The Neoliberalism Reform Under the Legacy of Planed Economy: The Peking University Case. In: Shin, J. (eds) Higher Education Governance in East Asia. Higher Education in Asia: Quality, Excellence and Governance. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2469-7_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2469-7_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-2468-0
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-2469-7
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)