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China has witnessed the emergence and rapid development of private higher education in the past three decades. As private higher education gradually takes on a more significant role in the Chinese educational system, due to the inability of the government to accommodate the growing demand for higher education, educational reform, influenced by the success of private higher education, will inevitably affect the quality and quantity of education overall.

This chapter focuses on several aspects of this development: the growth of private higher education in China, issues of finance and access, its relationship to the national system and to government policy, issues of ownership and the autonomy of private higher education, as well as the advantages and challenges of Chinese private higher education and the larger significance of its emergence in China. This study concludes that with proper management private colleges and universities will benefit from and contribute to Chinese society through multiple roles and responsibilities at their mature stage.

This general review paper aims to examine the special features of Chinese private higher education institutions (HEIs), discuss the challenges that Chinese private HEIs face, and explore what is needed for the further development of Chinese private higher education.

The paper takes the form of a general review and comparison.

Specifically, Chinese private higher education is characterized by volatile development that is easily affected by government policy inconsistencies. Today's private higher education faces serious challenges, including perceived low quality and low reputation, fierce competition within the private sector, and with the public sector and international forces, and difficulties in recruiting students. To facilitate the further development and improvement of Chinese private higher education, it is crucial to have a mature and stable education policy‐making process that involves multiple stakeholders, to provide substantive government support, and to establish a quality assurance system.

Chinese private higher education has experienced both unprecedented rapid growth and significant fluctuations in the last three decades, and is now facing serious challenges to its further development. Some of these challenges are common for private higher education worldwide, while some are unique to China. By focusing on these challenges, this paper probes the fundamental questions about the nature of private higher education, examines the role it plays in the process of modernizing developing countries, identifies the major obstacles that private higher education faces, and explores how these obstacles can be overcome.

Along with the “reform and open door” policy launched in the late 1970s, China has experienced an annual average GDP growth rate of 9.8% between 1978 and 2002 (Hu, 2003, October 19). China's economy system has also gone through a fundamental transition from a central planning system to a socialist free market economy. To cope with the booming economy and radical social changes, the higher education system of China has been undergoing a process of expansion with marketization (World Bank, 1997).

This paper focuses on governance in higher education in China. It sees that governance as distinctive on the world scale and the potential source of distinctiveness in other domains of higher education. By taking an historical approach, reviewing relevant literature and drawing on empirical research on governance at one leading research university, the paper discusses system organisation, government–university relations and the role of the Communist Party (CCP), centralisation and devolution, institutional leadership, interior governance, academic freedom and responsibility, and the relevance of collegial norms. It concludes that the party-state and Chinese higher education will need to find a Way in governance that leads into a fuller space for plural knowledges, ideas and approaches. This would advance both indigenous and global knowledge, so helping global society to also find its Way.

The purpose of the paper is to conceptualize international students’ perception on the internationalization of higher education in China and identify some challenges faced by some of the higher educational institutions (HEIs) in their internationalization practice.

This study utilized the qualitative research method, specifically, the researchers employed structured interview for investigation. The population of this research includes 15 international students and five Chinese professors teaching in BNU. Participants’ responses were categorized to provide a better understanding of the subject of study.

This study identified some push-pull factors that influenced international students’ decision making to pursue their studies in China. Some of the push factors identified include the high cost of graduate education, unavailability of some academic courses in some students’ home countries, international exposure, and unemployment, whereas the pull factors identified constitute scholarship opportunities, an alliance between BNU and others foreign universities, global job opportunity, universities’ prestige, and ranking, Chinese history and culture, and technological advancement. Finally, the challenges discovered are professors and students’ relationship, language barrier, separation of international and Chinese students, and lack of internship opportunities.

This study provides an in-depth understanding of the case presented and has outlined some key areas to be improved in the internationalization process of Chinese HEIs. Further studies in this area are encouraged to critically analyze foreign faculty members’ experiences and contributions to Chinese internationalization of HE process in different institutions and provide a substantial framework to help mitigate some of the challenges that will emerge.

This research collated and addressed the lived experiences and perception on matters relevant for international practices by Chinese HEIs. Researchers have explained the assumptions and theory used in this study to better understanding the issues that emerged.

This chapter provides a thorough historical overview of policies that have governed and guided scientific research in China since 1949 and illustrates changes in scientific publications that accompanied these policy reforms and programs.

We divide this historical period into four stages, each with distinct R&D policies: (1) 1949–1955, a period of socialist transformation; (2) 1956–1965, a period of struggle for higher education and research development in a rapidly changing political environment; (3) 1966–1976, the lost decade of the Cultural Revolution; and (4) 1976–present, a period when major national policies have significantly promoted scientific research in China. We use the SPHERE project’s comprehensive historical dataset based on Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science and data from a set of research universities in China to analyze changes in scientific publication rates concurrent with these policy reforms and programs.

The analysis suggests a tight connection between national policy and scientific research productivity in higher education. The central government controlled scientific research through direct administration in early periods and has guided research activities through funding specific programs in recent decades. Due to their resource dependency on the central government, higher education institutions have been quite responsive to the common goals set by the central government. As a result, what is measured tends to be accomplished.

The chapter provides an in-depth description about the rise of higher education and science in China and produces recommendations for future development.

This paper aimed to explore the development of distance education (DE) in Chinese higher education as well as the three significant themes: accessibility, quality and equity in Chinese DE and the performance of these three themes in Chinese DE.

Document analysis was used as the major research method in this study to examine the development and challenges in terms of accessibility, quality and equity in Chinese DE. In this study, national-level official policy documents and reports from the Chinese government were collected and analyzed. Also, scientific articles from CNKI were analyzed to find out the evolution of the Frontier topics on Chinese DE in accessibility, quality and equity.

There are three major findings. First, the Chinese government has shown its positive attitude toward DE in higher education. Second, compared with the other two themes: quality and equity; the number of articles in the accessibility of DE was lower than the other two themes and the problems of accessing online courses were insufficiently caused by two reasons due to lack of basic ICT literacy and poor Internet infrastructure. Third, there was a gap between Chinese policies and research articles mainly because of the unbalanced development of accessibility in policy management and research articles.

Although this paper has summarized the development of the DE in Chinese higher education, it was clear that accessibility, quality and equity were three critical issues in DE. However, there are still other essential factors that contribute to the development of DE that requires further investigation, such as learner satisfaction, different features of learning platforms and instructional strategy.

The findings of this paper can be used to identify the attitude toward the DE of the Chinese government. Besides, the accessibility could be a research and practical focus for Chinese DE in the future.

This study showed some significant policies released by the Chinese government toward DE in higher education and revealed the achievements, trends and challenges in the accessibility, quality and equity of Chinese DE.

The purpose of this paper is to surface themes which may influence Chinese students’ decision making in relation to postgraduate study in international universities.

The study utilises a semi-structured qualitative interview methodology (n=15).

The main findings are discussed according to the following themes: financial and time costs; employment prospects; postgraduate education as a cultural adventure; linguistics; visa issues; admissions; climate; influence of referents; and academic image and reputation.

The sample size is small, yet affords greater depth of data and discussion.

The research offers practitioners in universities who are managing postgraduate recruitment of Chinese students, some greater understanding of the reasons behind prospective Chinese postgraduate students’ choice; from which they can evaluate the effectiveness of their institutions’ recruitment strategies.

Extant research has tended to report reasons why Chinese students study overseas, whereas this study offers deeper insight and exploration of the reasoning of Chinese international students in the postgraduate context. The research is of value given the importance of postgraduate Chinese students to international university recruitment.

Despite the competitive internationalization of higher education, international students' responses to dissatisfaction (consumer complaining behavior or CCB) are not well understood in New Zealand. While studies show that many factors, including culture, influence CCB, the None‐Action mode in particular has been largely overlooked by researchers. The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese student's CCB.

The study employed a qualitative exploratory focus group design examining Chinese students' CCB. Data were analyzed in two stages. First, data were coded into various CCB modes. Next, data relating to the specific mode of None‐Action were thematically analyzed. Five key themes for None‐Action were revealed: Futility, Inadequate Information, Fear of Consequences, Complexity, and Internalization.

This exploratory research found a high level of None‐Action responses. It was apparent that culture was highly influential in participants' CCB responses and that these None‐Action responses had an affective dimension.

Understanding None‐Action responses to dissatisfaction among international students in higher education is critical if universities are to avoid adverse funding consequences. There are cultural and personal implications for students and strategic implications for higher education institutions in understanding Chinese students' Non‐Action. The exploratory nature of the research means that it is designed to stimulate thought and debate on how to expand the body of knowledge on this mode of CCB.

The research highlights the importance to higher education institutions of understanding the cultural and service‐specific explanations for Non‐Action as a response to student‐consumer dissatisfaction.

This article aims to review the latest developments of the higher education sector in China since the mid‐1990s by focusing on the expansion of university education.

It is argued that while massification of higher education is an important indication of the progress in China's higher education system, the quest for world‐class universities indicates China's ambition to earn international reputation in higher education sector compatible with its increasing economic power.

The driving force of these two developments is from the state, which demonstrates the dominant role of the Chinese government in higher education policy and administration. However, the ambitious state constitutes both a driving force and a constraint for China's higher education. The strengthening administrative control accompanied by the financial benefits from the government has led to bureaucratization of China's universities. China's world‐class pursuit necessitates a fundamental change of the existing pattern of relationship between the state and university and university governance model.

The strategic plan to build up world‐class universities shows that China is not satisfied with the quantitative growth of its higher education, but is seeking to achieve a breakthrough in quality higher education.

The paper explains how China's desire to achieve world class status within the area of higher education is being achieved.