Access to Higher Education for People with Disabilities

This chapter focuses on a series of related questions centered on access issue for people with disabilities in Chinese higher education: what is the representation for people with disabilities in Chinese higher education? What factors contribute to the impediment of access for higher education for people with disabilities? What educational legislation exist that provide educational guidelines for people with disabilities? What cultural traditions underlie the lack of educational attainment for people with disabilities in China?

ABSTRACTWestern models of the university have fundamentally shaped Chinese universities over the twentieth century. Since the nineteenth century, bringing together aspects of the Chinese and Western philosophical heritages in higher education has turned out to be an arduous task. The striking differences between the two value systems have led to cultural tensions. Chinese universities have not figured out how to wed the standard norms of Western higher education with their traditions. The Western concept of a university has been taken only for its practicality. Chinese higher learning traditions have had strong impact on contemporary higher education development. While China’s history of the educational institutions called university today is long and their changes have been drastic, the transformation of China’s higher education has been surprisingly little documented in the English literature. Without a good grasp of the nature of Chinese traditional higher education and institutions, it is almost impossible to truly understand modern Chinese higher education. Tracing the historical roots of Chinese higher education, this article examines how traditional Chinese higher education and its institutions have been transformed under the influence of their Western counterparts. It attempts to capture the interactions between indigenous Chinese and imported Western traditions in higher education.

Chinese higher education has experienced great changes since the 1990s. The quick expansion of the system, the implementation of tuition and fees, the presidential call for the building of world-class universities, the development of Sino-foreign education programs, the massive student mobility and the mobilization of the brain circulation all took place in the past two decades. Observing those developments, one has to acknowledge that though it still faces many challenges, Chinese higher education has made great progress in many aspects. The changes in Chinese higher education shared many commonalities with other systems of higher education, but they are unique, given China’s social transition, the speed of economic development, and the global context. This chapter will provide an explanation on the uniqueness of Chinese mass higher education in the past two decades.

Canada has global reputation for her excellence in animation education and animation movie industry. Historically Canada starts developing her animation education and industry in just late 20th century; however, it quickly became the home of hundreds and thousands of brilliant animators and artists. This makes us wondering what is the secret to achieve such honor so quickly and so influentially. This article starts introducing the early days of Canadian higher animation education and then continuing explores its development, growth and evolution. (1)The author focuses her research and analysis on the characteristic of quality Canada higher animation education, academicals, theories and methodology, by introducing the effective grading policy and doing comprehensive comparison between Canadian and Chinese animation in higher education. Throughout researching, analysis, comparison and evaluation, the author tries to make the connection between marvelous Canadian higher education resources and the high demand from Chinese higher education, to serve and achieve sustainable and healthier Chinese higher animation education in the future.

In the past two decades, the trend of internationalization of higher education has been rapidly developed in contemporary China. Moreover, the Chinese government is seeking to keep in pace with the trend of internationalization to address both national and international challenges (Ayoubi and Massoud 2007). The trend of internationalization of Chinese higher education is deeply rooted in the integrated process of transformation of higher education worldwide. The acceleration of internationalization of higher education has been on the agenda at national, regional, and international dimensions (Rui 2014). Since the 1970s, the ultimate goal of the internationalization of higher education in China is to fulfill “Four Modernizations” (of industry, agriculture, defense, science and technology) in Chinese higher education system. Based on this purpose, the internationalization of higher education has been undertaken by the means of sending Chinese students and faculty abroad for international study and research, combining an international orientation into university teaching and learning, and offering transnational projects in consistent with foreign institutional partnerships with Chinese universities (Rui 2014). From a comparative and international perspective, Chinese higher education has obtained diverse advantages by implementing a series of education politics for advocating internationalization of Chinese higher education contextually. Hence, the major purpose of this research involves in mapping the internationalization of higher education in terms of constructing soft power conversion model of higher education (HE) from an international political science perspective. In addition, framing soft power conversion model of HE is implicitly consistent with the internationalization of higher education worldwide. In other words, the process of internationalization of higher education also stimulates constructing soft power of HEs. Moreover, this research also brings a specific initial lens to examine the internationalization of higher education in Chinese higher education context from international political science perspective. Specifically, in this study, this article is divided into three major sections: in the first section, Nye’s theory of soft power has been introduced and elaborated by several steps; then, in the second section, as a main part of this article, conceptualizing soft power conversion model of HE is constituted for explicit pathway and implicit process separately. In the explicit pathway of soft power conversion model of HE, political attractiveness, educational resources, and educational outcomes of internalization of higher education have been investigated and elaborated; in the implicit process of framing soft power conversion model of HE, cultivating and advocating global competency is considered as an essential pathway to enhance soft power of HE worldwide. In the last section, educational policy recommendations and remarks have been illustrated in accordance with constructing soft power conversion model of HE in Chinese higher education context.

Quality assurance has been integrated into the fabric of higher education in China, with the issue of quality in higher education – how to evaluate it and how to enhance it – now taking centre stage in Chinese higher education. In the past decade, the development of quality assurance in Chinese higher education has covered a broad spectrum of initiatives, from national policy, quality evaluation methodology, and institutional adoption of quality assurance schemes, to the matrix of quality evaluations. This article attempts to present a comprehensive overview of quality assurance in Chinese higher education by reviewing and analysing the context and development of quality assurance initiatives, alongside the current structure and management of quality assurance in Chinese higher education. By commenting on the current realities and remaining challenges in Chinese higher education, this article also points to some implications for Chinese higher education institutions in their further progress along the quality assurance path.

PurposeThere have been regular policy enactment and dynamism to ensure progress and sustainability in the development of higher education (HE) in China after the Cultural Revolution. This study was purposed to reveal the processes of the Chinese higher education (CHE) development through series of policy implementations from the epoch of economic reformation and opening-up policy.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed document analysis, and selected and critically analyzed documents that include published articles and books, the official website of the Chinese Ministry of Education, and historical documentaries of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and their HE aftermath. Again, a semi-structured interview was utilized with a sample size of 20 academics vested in the CHE history. Five academics from four universities in China were interviewed to analyze the historical events of the CHE transformation and current policies about the CHE development.FindingsThe authors established that enrollment in the CHE has increased since the economic reformation; there has been the enhancement of the CHE internationalization in recent decades and the emergence of world-class universities and programs in the CHE as a result of the world class policies and projects. For consistency of the innovative programs toward HE development, the authors have posited some challenges, future goals and the global impacts of the CHE development and its sustainability.Originality/valueThe utilization of document analysis cements the claims by the interviewees, which enriches the value of the results. This study would provide literature guidance to international researchers to critically concoct theoretical assumptions from the findings to critically investigate the developmental policy pattern of HE institutions.

Objectives This study aim to verify the HESQUAL model whether it is an effective evaluation tool for evaluating teaching and administrative service quality in Chinese higher education.
 Methods This study based on the current situation of higher education in China, and flexible application of evaluation index of the HESQUAL model, adopted a research method of holistic approach, extracting and conducted initial test on factors for evaluation of teaching and administrative service quality in Chinese higher education, and offered an elementary evaluation tool through literature research, in-depth interviews. The study initiated preliminary survey (N=562) and main survey (N=806) distributing questionnaires to the three categories of higher education stakeholders: university students, university teachers and university administrators. Furthermore, software of SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 21.0 tested the reliability and rationality of the evaluation tool through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, and yielded the final evaluation tool and model.
 Results Foremost, through exploratory factor analysis, a 5 dimensions solution with 20 indicators of the special evaluation tool for evaluation teaching and administrative service quality in Chinese higher education with internal consistency (α=.972) was identified in the preliminary survey. Secondly, through confirmatory factor analysis proved their sound model fit (χ2/df=4.512; CFI=.967; TLI=.961; GFI=.910; RMSEA=.066), good convergent validity and discriminant validity.
 Conclusions It was concluded that the evaluation tool is an effective and reliable tool for teaching and administrative service quality in Chinese higher education. This conclusion is exploratory, especially joined the dimension of “Students’ Personal Growth Quality in the University at learning”, which has rarely been seen in previous studies. But in the in-depth interview, experts reached a consensus.

The emergence of new e-learning technologies requires a rethinking of their implementation in higher education. To fill this gap, this study analyzes the experience of using and creating e-learning tools in Chinese higher education institutions over the past 5 years. The survey found that the most common educational technologies in Chinese higher education are blended learning, collaborative learning, modified classes, micro-learning and adaptive learning, as well as e-learning tools such as mobile technology and mass open online courses. A survey of university faculty and students explored the practicalities of using e-learning tools in Chinese higher education. The results of the analysis of 20 responses from teachers and 16 responses from undergraduate and postgraduate students showed the following: the teachers have the opportunity to organize e-learning at their university, blended learning is mainly implemented in the learning process, teachers are not limited in choosing e-learning tools: video tools, messengers, social networks and e-learning tools such as Articulate 360 and Adapt. It has been proven that video lectures with a higher level of teacher expression were better than those that had a normal level of teacher expression and only audio, in terms of improving the level of students’ emotional and learning satisfaction. Accordingly, the teacher's facial expression plays a key role in teaching students online. A number of tasks have been proposed that will contribute to the development of e-learning in Chinese higher education. The authors emphasize that in order to develop e-learning in Chinese higher education, it is necessary to pay attention to the following tasks: understanding and studying trends in the ICT development in education; targeting e-learning strategies at improving learning interests; constant monitoring and updating of software and hardware of higher educational institutions for introduction of new technologies in higher education; development and distribution of platforms with simple software interfaces for creating distance learning courses; development of information resources.

Beginning with a restarting of the national college entrance examination, Chinese higher education has obtained great achievement since the reform era, nurturing lots of advanced specialized talents for economic development and modernization construction and improving the levels of teaching and research. At present, higher education has gradually developed into a multilevel, multiform, and multidisciplinary system suitable to the national economy and social development. Universities have constantly expanded the functions of talents nurturing, scientific research, and social service. Chinese education's development and reform in the past thirty years can be classified into four stages: from 1977 to 1985, recovering, reorganizing, and rebuilding period; from 1985 to 1989, comprehensive reforming of education system period; from the mid 1990s to 2003, economic period of education development; from 2003 to the present, carrying out scientific development viewpoint, promoting educational equality and fairness, and exploring a new education facing the future. Keywords:Chinese higher education; educational public policy; multidisciplinary system; scientific research

ABSTRACTLike many other education systems in the world, Chinese education has undergone various reforms in order to adapt to the challenges that are perceived to emanate from the knowledge economy. Central to this transformation is the concept of ‘innovation’, which is to guide the country on its path from a production economy to a knowledge economy. Chinese policymakers have been targeting the higher education sector both as a motor for innovation and as a realm to be innovated, and have invested heavily in the sector’s internationalization, above all in the form of international collaboration and student mobility, affecting higher education and academia worldwide. However, a number of structural and political constraints delimit the directions that innovation can take, both within Chinese education in general and within Chinese higher education. The article takes stock of these constraints and assesses the potential for innovation in Chinese higher education in terms of the underlying school system, exam and recruitment policies, the (re-)organization of universities, as well as the universities’ and science system’s performance according to indicators of innovation. The article then identifies four ‘Chinese innovation dilemmas’, that is, educational policies and developments that are to spur innovation but run counter to existing structures and practices of educational, social, and political governance: ideological control versus creativity; state planning versus grassroots innovation; old-boy networks versus anti-corruption; and exam-based student recruitment versus flexible recruitment.

Chinese Higher Education Development and Countermeasure Research

This study examines the rapidly expanded educational opportunities and consequent employability challenges to women in Chinese higher education over the past two decades of China’s rapid economic development and education development. The first part of the study discusses the impressive progress in women’s attainment, access and performance in higher education. Though women students have now become a majority in higher education in China and overall performed better than male students in universities and colleges both in learning behaviour and outcomes, a principal challenge remains in terms of persisting gender inequality in graduate employability. The latter part of the study presents both quantitative and qualitative research findings about the trends, issues and concerns of gender inequality in graduate employability in relation to the relevance and responsiveness to higher education in China. The study concludes with consideration of the wider implications for women in education, the work place and in society at large. The study integrates research literature and data on China’s policy-making, national statistics, national surveys and international study of women’s development and higher education development in China.

The massive global growth of private sectors transforms higher education. It naturally sparks great interest and debate. But analysis lags far behind, as does cross-national documentation. Promoters glorify roles (e.g., access), while critics demonize roles (e.g., moneymaking). Policy makers tend to hold simple views of what private higher education does or what they want it to do, while participants tend to generalize from their own institution. Public discussion thus often revolves around narrow and misleading declarations. The gap is large between self-serving or ill-informed views and more complex reality. Private higher education is least understood where it has just recently become prominent—and that is in much of the world. A few decades ago, private higher education was absent or marginal in most countries. Today, it captures a major or fast-increasing portion of enrollments in Eastern and Central Europe, the Middle East and northern and sub-Saharan Africa, East and South Asia, and Latin America. Furthermore, new forms of private

As a natural by-product of globalization, belief systems within Chinese higher education face increased challenges from both internal and external forces that present challenges beyond previous generations. The primary focus of this chapter is to understand the complexities of the multifaceted aspects of belief systems within Chinese higher education. First is a brief treatment of the basic characteristics of Chinese belief culture and education, along with an explanation of some common misunderstandings. Second, we offer an analysis on the growing crisis in Chinese belief education, including root causes of diversified ideologies, belief choices caused by crisis of thought, and a crisis of judgment precipitated by vulgarization. In the final section, we analyze the fundamental reasons for the crisis in contemporary Chinese higher education. Belief education is not only a complex social and cultural construct but also an individual psychological one. We offer possible explanations from a variety of perspectives, including individual, cultural, educational, and psychological factors. From the purview of higher education, universities face the pressure of complex relationship between academic, government, and market, which leaves belief philosophy in a difficult position. It is because Chinese belief education is restricted by many internal and external factors that students generally do not have a solid understanding of Chinese belief philosophy, even though much philosophy is embedded into curricula. We present several paths for improvement. The government should grant tertiary education greater epistemic and philosophical latitude in the area of belief education. Higher education scholars in China ought to reconsider the rights and responsibilities of belief education and maintain a system that is removed from overtly pragmatic and utilitarian purposes.