Academic Barbarism and the Asian University: The Case of Hong Kong

Abstract

Asian universities are featuring more prominently in ranking tables and levels of investment into research in China are producing world-leading research centres. In 2013, the Chinese government invested more than 1.18 trillion renminbi, or $190 billion, which is more than two percent of its gross domestic product, in “the development of scientific research and experimentation,” according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (Tallow 2015). However, recent studies reveal there are still strong educational inequalities in China and that the main reason for this is disparities in access to education between urban and rural areas (Qian and Smyth 2005). A survey by the China Youth Daily in 2009 reveals that only 11.2 percent of respondents believe educational gaps are narrowing (Yang et al. 2014). Hannum and Wang (2006) have also recently discovered that these regional inequalities have led to educational stratification in recent times. Studies reveal that a significant factor for the reproduction of educational inequalities is the degree of stratification of educational opportunities (Allmendinger 1989; Hopper 1968). Stratification is generally understood as the extent “to which education opportunities are differentiated between and within educational levels” (Nikolai and West 2013: 60).