A comparative study of educational decentralization in China and Korea, 1985-1995 : motives, actions, and results.

Theoretically, the benefits of decentralization include the enhancement of democratic participation and managerial efficiency, and the reduction of financial deficiencies. Empirically, however, there is little consistent evidence supporting this premise. The consequences of reform vary in accordance with country-specific conditions: they appear to be successful, mixed, or failed. This study seeks to shed light on how the goals, strategies, and consequences of decentralization interact with each other. It focuses on educational governance reform in China and Korea, which have different historical, economic, and political backgrounds. Two main themes are identified in this work: how different problems were addressed by the same policy instrument, decentralization, and how the results differed depending upon environmental conditions. This led to three areas of investigation: the motivating forces for the decentralization of education, the manners of actuation, and the consequences in China and Korea between 1985 and 1995. A comparative approach was used involving a mixture of longitudinal (vertical) and cross-sectional (horizontal) analyses, which had been proposed and developed subsequent to the work of Bereday, Hilker, and Noah. These longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses identified several isomorphic and idiosyncratic aspects of the educational governance reforms in China and Korea. The major similarities found include: (1) the economic and political crises as motivating forces, (2) the establishment of legal infrastructures, and the utilization of the incremental and asymmetric vi approaches in the manner of reform actuation, and (3) some positive consequences of reform such as increased educational funds and local educational autonomy. However, coupled with these similarities were three important differences: (1) the key objectives to be solved: the financial problem in China versus the political problem in Korea, (2) the major actuation strategies: restructuring fiscal authority by decentralization and diversification in China, versus rearranging political power for public education between the central and local governments in Korea, and (3) the main consequences of educational decentralization: improved fiscal efficiency in China, versus enhanced political autonomy in Korea. Both countries experienced some side-effects or limits of decentralization such as financial disparities in education among regions in China, and rhetorical decentralization and citizen apathy regarding local educational autonomy in its early stage in Korea

The Mind of the New Socialist Student in the Chinese Revolutionary Imagination, 1949-1958

Between 1949 and 1958, the nascent Peoples Republic of China witnessed a radical shift of knowledge about the human mind that transformed pedagogy. Against the Cold War and the changing Sino-Soviet relation, Chinese psychologists progressively repudiated American and Soviet schools for their shared deterministic philosophy and disinterest in human agency and class struggle. In light of this critique, educators abandoned psychological science as the basis of pedagogy and endeavored to create a supreme new socialist student to meet Chinas economic and political agendas. This dissertation explores this exteriorization epistemic transition by juxtaposing psychology and education. Taking advantage of so far untapped archival and published sources, this dissertation explores how psychologists, educators, and students navigated between a utopian communist dream and Chinas harsh socioeconomic reality in the creation of the new socialist student ideal. Chapter One Wrestling with Human Nature argues that the critique of psychology instantiated Chinas progressive ethos that, in the endeavor of transforming human mentality, rejected scientific discovery of mental laws. Chapter Two Laborizing Education argues that students faced excessive academic and labor tasks due to Chinas pursuit of post-war recovery, of success in Cold War competition, and of forestalling future labor-based class stratification. Chapter Three Engendering Citizenship scrutinizes how educators tapped into students subjectivity to produce a new citizenship identity capable of dismantling existing social relations

The psychological motivation of student cadres to participate in university management: An empirical study

University student cadres are the backbone of university students, as well as a major force of Chinese universities in advocating students to achieve self-education, management, and service. However, the problems of bureaucratism, administrativism, aristocratism and over-entertaining have manifested in some student cadres. Psychological motivation can stimulate the spiritual motivation, cultivate correct value orientation, form a positive view of life, and develop good behaviors. Therefore, conducting research on psychological motivation of student cadres is of great significance to enhancing the management of cadres. This research sorts out the situation of student organizations and student cadres of Chinese universities, reviews relevant theories of psychological motivation, clarifies the connotation of psychological motivation and management performance, designs student cadres’ motivation management questionnaires, constructs student cadre motivation management theoretical model and verifies the five dimensions of psychological motivation and the three dimensions of management performance. It analyzes the influence and path of different motivation dimensions on management performance dimensions and puts forward five policy recommendations.Os quadros (cadres) estudantis universitários constituem, não só, a espinha dorsal dos estudantes universitários, como também, a força principal das universidades chinesas para defender a autoeducação, a gestão e o serviço. Contudo, os problemas associados à burocracia, ao administrativismo e ao excesso de entretinimento estão presentes em alguns quadros estudantis. Em nossa opinião, a motivação psicológica pode, não só, estimular a motivação espiritual,como dar uma orientação correta, formar uma visão de vida positiva e desenvolver bons comportamentos. Por todas estas razões, a pesquisa sobre a motivação psicológica dos quadros estudantis é de grande interesse para a melhoria da sua gestão. Esta pesquisa descreve a situação das organizações estudantis e dos quadros estudantis nas universidades Chinesas, revê as principais teorias sobre motivação psicológica, clarifica a conotação entre a motivação psicológica e o desempenho de gestão, elabora questionários sobre a motivação dos quadros para a gestão, constrói um modelo teórico sobre a motivação dos quadros estudantis para a gestão e verifica as cinco dimensões da motivação psicológica e as três dimensões do desempenho da gestão. Analisamos também a influência e o trajeto das diferentes dimensões da motivação nas dimensões do desempenho da gestão e propomos cinco recomendações

Internationalization of Higher Education in China: A Case Study of the University System in Shandong

This case study explores the current situation and problems associated with the internationalization of China’s higher education institutions. The collection of research data was completed online from 12 universities in Shandong Province. This research shows that the organizational arrangements for the internationalization of higher education in China are diversified and improving gradually. Especially local non-research-oriented universities are more flexible and innovative in the specific organization and arrangement of internationalization. In addition, the research results also show that there are many difficulties and conflicts between academic and cultural integration in the internationalization of universities

The development of university-level distance education in the context of Hong Kong's transition from a British colony to a special administrative region of China

China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong on I July, 1997. After being a British colony for more than 150 years, Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of China following the "one country, two systems" policy. This dissertation is concerned with the examination of the market changes in Hong Kong's university distance education in the transition period. Information about respondents' demographics, evaluation and intention to pursue further study through distance education programmes was collected by sending questionnaires to two types of subject: current students using distance education programmes and potential adult students in Hong Kong. A total of five groups were identified as representing the first type of subject: students of the Henley Management College/Brunel University (UK) - MBA programme, the Curtin University of Technology - Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Accounting programme (Australia), and the Open University of Hong Kong - Bachelor of Business Administration and MBA programmes. The second type of subject comprised Hong Kong adults who were interested in studying via distance education programmes. One group of subjects were visitors to the Hong Kong Education Expo 1996, and they were classified as potential students who wished to study in distance education programmes in Hong Kong. All the data were processed using the Statistical Package for Social Science software programme. The research questions were tackled by the resultant data and analysis. The important findings obtained from the subjects are: a) The need for higher-degree-level programmes is very great among Hong Kong's distance learners. The decision to undertake further study to distance Master degree level after completing a distance Bachelor degree aptly demonstrates this situation. Consideration should, therefore, be given to developing distance Master degree programmes for students currently studying distance Bachelor degree programmes, and distance Doctorate degree programmes for students currently studying distance Master degree programmes. The majority of distance students, particularly at the higher-degree-level, tend to be in the higher-income bracket. b) Hong Kong adults who are interested in distance education programmes come from different occupation segments. Their choice of further study varies according to their needs and occupations. Consideration should be given to repositioning the current distance education programmes, particularly at Bachelor's degree or Diploma level. In addition, a segment comprising housewives has been identified as potential students for Bachelor's degree programmes by this study. In the further discussion about Hong Kong during the transition period, Fägerlind and Saha's Dialectical Model is used to examine the development of Hong Kong's higher education system with three important dimensions: political, economic and social forces. Finally, this analysis provides three possible alternatives of development for the integration of Hong Kong's and China's higher education systems in the post-transition period: "One Country, One System", "One Country, Two Systems", and "One Country, Many Systems"

Exploring How Tourism Majors’ Perceived Professional Competence Influences Their Choice of Tourism Careers in China

With the rapid development of tourism in China, various economic sectors such as agriculture, sports, food and beverages, cultural heritage, and outdoor adventure have become integrated into the tourism industry. China\u27s tourism industry has changed and these changes now require tourism practitioners to adapt. Chinese universities must also adapt their tourism curriculum and educational practices to reflect changes in the tourism sector. Research suggests that university training programs should increase their emphasis on developing students’ professional competency and expand the range of competencies they address in their curriculum. At the same time, tourism enterprises in China are unable to recruit enough competent employees, resulting in a shortage of qualified workers. To improve the professional competence of tourism students in China, tourism education departments must respond to the needs of, and changes in, the tourism industry. The purpose of this two-phase, mixed-method exploratory design study is to identify the professional competencies that tourism experts in China believe tourism students must acquire, and examine the relationship between these competencies, tourism students’ perceptions of professional competence, and their intent to pursue a career in the tourism sector. The present study began with basic qualitative research in the form of interviews with Chinese tourism experts in China to identify the professional competencies that Chinese tourism students need. During the second stage of research, these results were incorporated into a written questionnaire that was distributed to approximately 800 tourism majors in China. Through the analysis of survey data, we examined the relationship between student demographics, their perceived professional competence, and their intent to pursue a career in the tourism sector. The study results indicate that the causal relationship between students\u27 perceived professional competence and students\u27 intention for a career in tourism is valid. These findings provide theoretical support for improving tourism students\u27 perceived professional competency. The results also suggest strategies to increase the percentage of tourism students who will choose to work in the tourism sector upon graduation

Open innovation development of private colleges in China

Since their large-scale emergence in the 1990s, private colleges in China have achieved significant development along with the transition of Chinese higher education from the elite stage to the universal stage. However, due to institutional deficiencies and resource constraints, private colleges cannot replicate the development model of public colleges and universities. Based on the needs for development and future competition, private colleges have to seek different development paths from public universities in order to break through resource constraints and improve their own development performance. We choose Tianfu College, a private college in China, as a research case, and adopt an inductive qualitative approach and an exploratory case study strategy based on grounded theory, with the development practice of knowledge production as the research subjects. The data is formed through semi-structured interviews, on-site observations, and the collection of secondary data. The research results show that 1) Private colleges in China can achieve good development performance in knowledge production through open innovation strategy. 2) Private colleges in China can adopt resource bricolage to break through resource constraints and achieve open innovation development performance in knowledge production. 3) Top management teams with high achievement needs and high ambiguity tolerance, entrepreneurial oriented organizational culture and organic organization help the private college in China achieve open innovation development performance in knowledge production. Our findings further expand the scope of open innovation research subjects, enrich the content of research on the development model of private colleges, and have positive practical implications for the development of private colleges in China.Desde a sua emergência em larga escala na década de 90 do século passado, as faculdades privadas na China alcançaram, no seu conjunto, um desenvolvimento significativo, que ocorreu juntamente com a transição do ensino superior chinês da fase elitista para a fase de popularização, e depois para a fase de universalização. Contudo, devido a deficiências institucionais e à limitação de recursos, as faculdades privadas não podem replicar o modelo de desenvolvimento das faculdades e universidades públicas. Com base numa necessidade de desenvolvimento realista e de concorrência futura, as faculdades privadas têm de procurar vias de desenvolvimento diferentes, de modo a ultrapassar as limitações de recursos e melhorar o seu próprio desempenho. Escolhemos Tianfu College, uma faculdade privada na China, como caso de investigação, e adotamos uma abordagem qualitativa indutiva e uma estratégia exploratória de estudo de caso baseada na Grounded Theory, sendo o tema de investigação a prática de desenvolvimento da produção de conhecimento. Os resultados da investigação mostram que 1) Um colégio privado na China pode alcançar um bom desempenho de desenvolvimento na produção de conhecimento através de uma estratégia de inovação aberta. 2) Um colégio privado na China pode adotar uma abordagem da bricolagem de recursos para quebrar as restrições de recursos e obter um desempenho de desenvolvimento de inovação aberta na produção de conhecimento. 3) Uma equipa de gestão de topo com elevada necessidade de concretização e elevada tolerância à ambiguidade, uma cultura organizacional orientada para o empreendedorismo e uma estrutura orgânica, são condições para se alcançar um elevado desempenho na produção de conhecimento através de inovação aberta. Os resultados permitem alargar o âmbito da investigação em inovação aberta, enriquecem o conteúdo da investigação sobre modelos de desenvolvimento das faculdades privadas, e têm implicações práticas positivas para o desenvolvimento das faculdades privadas na China

The higher education systems of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China : a comparative study.

This study explores the tension between the preservation of cultural and\ud political identity and economic modernization in the higher education systems\ud in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC)\ud between 1949 and 1993.\ud Chapter One introduces the research problem, theoretical orientation,\ud main argument, and organization of this thesis.\ud Chapter Two examines the historical context of the higher education\ud systems of the PRC and the ROC, and identifies the similarities between the\ud pre-1949 higher education system and the two contemporary Chinese higher\ud education systems.\ud Chapter Three analyzes the contemporary (domestic and international)\ud contexts of higher education in the PRC and the ROC. The chapter highlights\ud the monolithic, state-supported, official value systems of both countries; the\ud domestic relations between the ruling party, the state, the economy and the\ud people; and the international relations of the two countries, as these affect the\ud higher education systems. Chapter Four investigates the cultural tasks of both higher education\ud systems, and reviews the ways in which they have institutionalized different\ud forms of cultural and political identity.\ud Chapters Five and Six analyze the economic tasks of both higher\ud education systems. Chapter Five examines the importation of science and\ud technology, and the social values of science and technology in both countries.\ud Chapter Six examines the processes of institutionalizing, in higher education,\ud different foreign models of science and technology.\ud Chapter Seven reviews the patterns of similarities and differences\ud between both higher education systems, and explores the specific and the\ud broader implications of the thesis

Constructing Civil Society in Transitional China: Case Studies of One Private University and One Non-governmental Institute for Peasant Education

The political shift in China in the last two and a half decades, from an emphasis on ideological orthodoxy and centralized economic control, to an emphasis on national economic development for modernization, has made it possible for non-governmental actors to enter into fields previously controlled by the government and to take initiatives in making social changes. This dissertation examines the capacity that non-governmental organizations demonstrate in their fight against all odds and their promotions of a civil society in China, using two non-governmental organizations working in the field of education as examples. The cases are analyzed from a historical institutionalism perspective to show how organizations' actions are affected by the contextual factors and meanwhile how their actions influence the institutions. In the case studies, the interaction between the society and the state government is carefully studied; moreover, the associational, ideological and cognitive dimensions of the civil society construction in China are comprehensively examined. Two non-governmental institutions are examined in this study. Their increasing participation in educational practices provides alternatives to the educational model in government-managed organizations. The dissertation also examines the development of the two organizations and pays special attention to the constraints imposed on the organizations by the existing political and educational system: The government is alert to their increasing power and attempts to restraint it. However, both organizations were successful in negotiating spaces for their survival and gained increasing influence in the society. Case analysis showed that the most important feature in the state-society interaction in China is trust-building which requires sophisticated strategies. While sticking to their non-state identity, these organizations have made significant efforts in establishing channels of discourse with the government, and won their trust in this way. Overall, the civil society groups in China showed divergence in their goals and practices from other countries, but also share certain convergence in their features and strategies for the redefinition of state-society boundary. In the dissertation, a dynamic interaction between the institutional factors and the agency of social actors is discovered. The institutional contexts shaped the social actors' vision and strategies, and the institutional environment was also transformed by the action of social groups. The direction of political and social reform is co-steered by the state-government and the society, instead of being determined by the government alone

Atlas of Religion in China

This atlas maps religious sites and describes social and demographic characteristics of religious believers in contemporary China.; Readership: All people interested in religion in China; academic libraries; research institutes on China